Authorities capture inmate who escaped from state prison

TAFT, Okla. (AP) – Oklahoma authorities have captured an inmate who had escaped from a state prison.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections says 32-year-old Markus Perry was apprehended Thursday afternoon in a wooded area just northwest of the Jess Dunn Correctional Center in Taft.

Perry had escaped earlier in the day. He was returned to the prison in East Oklahoma Thursday night.

State troopers, members of the Muskogee Creek Nation Lighthorse Tribal Police and the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office helped in the search.

Authorities say they are still trying to determine why Perry fled the prison.

Perry is serving a two-year sentence in the minimum security prison for sexual abuse of a child under 12. The conviction came out of Oklahoma County.