The prisoner who slipped away from Harford County deputies last year has made the fourth prison break of his criminal career, this time in Tennessee, authorities said.
Terrell Watson, also known as Terrence Washington, 33, had last escaped from Harford County correctional officers in January 2007 as they transported him to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. He spent more than three months on the lam before being arrested outside of Nashville in Goodlettsville, Tenn., in late April on auto-theft charges.
On Sunday, authorities at the Corrections Corporation of America reported Watson had escaped again, apparently disappearing from his cell at the privately run Metro Detention Facility before an early-morning check.
Assistant Warden Johnny Sausedo told The (Nashville) Tennessean that officials believed Watson was still hiding out inside the facility. But CCA spokeswoman Susan Poindexter said they were also considering the possibility he had escaped as of Tuesday afternoon. The 1,092-inmate facility has been on lockdown since Sunday, Poindexter said.
Sgt. Christina Presberry, spokeswoman for the Harford County Sheriff?s Office, said her agency had informed Tennessee authorities that Watson was an escape risk.
Before coming into the custody of the Harford Sheriff?s Office last year, Watson had escaped two other prisons ? convincing a guard to look the other way as he walked out of an Arkansas jail, and working with another inmate in Louisiana to saw out the bars in a window.
Watson?s escapes caught the attention of the TV show “America?s Most Wanted,” which profiled him.
“When he came to us, we weren?t advised he?d had issues with escape in the past,” Presberry said. “After getting into the investigation of his escape, that?s when it came to light. That was one of the things we passed along ? that he needed to be under very high security.”
Watson had claimed to be coughing up blood in 2007, and correctional officers were taking him to the hospital when he freed himself from handcuffs and leg shackles, then escaped into nearby woods. A trail of stolen and abandoned cars led authorities down the East Coast, but Watson was not caught again until police in Tennessee traced stolen cars and property to his hotel room in Goodlettsville in April.
Watson faces charges of escape, theft, auto theft and robbery spanning several states, including a 2003 incident when he allegedly rammed a Maryland State Police car while eluding capture. He was still awaiting extradition to Maryland for those earlier charges.
