Justin Miles Sheppard

Photo courtesy ADOC

LOXLEY, Alabama — An inmate from the Loxley Work Release Center who escaped early Saturday morning in Orange Beach traveled more than 750 miles before being recaptured Sunday in West Virginia.

According to a release issued by the Alabama Department of Corrections, Justin Miles Sheppard, 32, left from an assigned job around 2 a.m. Saturday morning in Orange Beach.

A release issued Sunday stated that Sheppard was recaptured at approximately 9:15 p.m. Sunday by West Virginia State Police in Princeton, West Virginia, about 755 miles from Orange Beach.

Sheppard was serving a 5-year sentence after being convicted in February 2015 on second degree arson charges from Marshall County.

ADOC issued a separate release over the weekend stating that another inmate, 24-year-old Mitchell Cole Waters, was recaptured the same day after reporting escaping from the facility on Saturday evening.

Cole was serving a 60-year sentence, convicted in June 2017 on third degree burglary charges from Coffee County.

The two weekend escapees followed closely on the heels of an inmate being recaptured after leaving an assigned job Wednesday, June 27 in Bay Minette.

James Douglas Hubbard, 29, left an assigned job at approximately 11:20 a.m. on Wednesday.

Hubbard was serving an 84-month sentence after being convicted in December of 2017 on second degree theft of property charges in Talledega County.

All three inmates will likely face addition escape charges.