This article was updated at 5:23 p.m.
Authorities say it appears an inmate who escaped Friday from the Northeast Correctional Complex in St. Johnsbury never made it very far due to injuries he suffered after climbing a 14-foot fence with razor-wire on top and falling down.
Shannon Edwards, 35, was spotted in the woods by a corrections officer not far from the correctional facility and taken into custody around 7 a.m. Monday, according to Rachel Feldman, a spokesperson for the Vermont Department of Corrections.
Al Cormier, facilities executive with the corrections department, said it’s believed that Edwards had been hiding in a culvert.
“There was movement spotted in the woods next to the facility by staff assigned to the perimeter,” Cormier said, adding that when corrections officers checked it out they discovered it was Edwards.
Cormier described Edwards as cooperative with corrections officers as they took him into custody.
Edwards, who suffered several broken bones, was taken Monday morning to Northeast Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury.
“We assume from this point it’s from falling over the fence,” Cormier said of the cause of Edwards’ injuries.
“We believe right now that he never left the area,” Cormier said. “The injuries were substantial enough that he made it to where he was found and was basically there for a couple of days.”
Vermont State Police said they responded to the scene early Friday morning shortly after Edwards’ escape and a police dog picked up a scent and then lost it.
Edwards was expected to be released from the hospital later Monday and taken to the infirmary in the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, according to Cormier.
A warrant with bail set at $200,000 had been issued for Edwards’ arrest on an escape charge.
A correctional official said Friday that Edwards escaped through a small window at a work camp facility on the grounds of the Northeast Correctional Complex in St. Johnsbury.
Edwards is then believed to have scaled the 14-foot fence and used a blanket and mattress to try to protect himself from the razor-wire on top of the fence.
Edwards had been serving time for several convictions, including resisting arrest and burglary, and his minimum release date was in March 2022.
The maximum penalty for the latest escape charge is 10 years in prison.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Captured escapee found near prison, injured from fall from fence .