Escaped prisoner flees to Basin

An escaped inmate from the Montana State Prison, led officers on a pursuit in Basin Friday evening while residents were instructed to shelter-in-place.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office issued the shelter-in-place at 6 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. through the county’s reverse notification system. The inmate, 52-year old Brian Jones, was apprehended by the Montana Highway Patrol around 11:30 p.m.

Jones escaped from the Work Reentry Center at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge in a light blue Ford F-250 which the prison’s “Cowboy Crew” uses for work on the prison ranch, according to a Corrections Facebook post. All other prisoners were accounted for.