Agencies coordinate quick recapture of escaped inmate

Posted

BAY MINETTE, Alabama — Quick action and teamwork by local, county and state law enforcement agencies led to the recapture of an escaped inmate on Wednesday, July 14.

An alert was issued by the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department of an escaped inmate “last seen in Bay Minette behind the medical offices/hospital on Hand Avenue” at approximately 2:40 p.m. July 14. Less than an hour later, a second alert was issued that the inmate had been captured.

According to a release issued Thursday by the Bay Minette Police Department, Jessie Lee Tidwell Jr. was being transported for a scheduled visit to a doctor’s office on Hand Avenue near North Baldwin Infirmary.

According to the release, Tidwell was being transported by a private security transport company when he escaped the security officer’s custody at some point after the transport vehicle was parked.

“A large law enforcement response descended on the area and a perimeter was quickly established,” according to the release. “This allowed law enforcement to contain the escapee Tidwell to a small area.”

Alabama Department of Correction K-9 teams tracked Tidwell to a maintenance facility owned by the Baldwin County Board of Education. Tidwell was found hiding in a wooden crate inside an unoccupied metal shop, approximately a quarter of a mile from where he originally escaped.

Tidwell made his way to this location through a heavily wet and wooded area from the doctor’s office.

“The quick action and teamwork by all law enforcement agencies involved brought a quick and successful ending to this incident,” according to the release. Bay Minette Police Department, Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, Baldwin Sheriff’s Office Correction Center, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Coastal Alabama Police Department and Alabama Department of Corrections agencies were all involved.

According to Alabama Department of Corrections records, Tidwell had served just over eight years of a 30-year sentence at Fountain Correctional Facility in Escambia County on second-degree forgery charges from Lauderdale County, and separate charges of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and second degree rape from Colbert County.