Escaped Nash County inmate back in custody

Less than two months after five inmates broke out of the Nash County Detention Center, another inmate escaped Tuesday morning, but was back in custody by 11:30 p.m.

Terrell Gailand Miles, 29, was discovered missing during a 7 a.m. headcount, Sheriff Keith Stone said. Miles was apprehended Tuesday night when authorities conducted a traffic stop at the emergency room entrance at UNC-Nash. Miles attempted to run, but was apprehended immediately.

According to Stone, Miles either "sabotaged" the lock on a door leading to the exercise yard, or the lock malfunctioned for some reason. Once outside in the yard, Miles pushed out the lower part of the fence to gain access to a perimeter passageway, where he then ran a short distance and hopped a 6-foot fence to escape, authorities said.

Investigators received a tip about Miles' location, authorities said.

On March 25, five inmates similarly were able to create a hole in the exercise yard fence and escaped into a nearby wooded area, where authorities said they may have been picked up by an accomplice.

The inmates might have picked up on a blindspot for a security camera monitoring the exercise yard, Stone had said at the time. Other inmates alerted detention officers to the escape, he said.

Four of the inmates were recaptured within a day, and the fifth was apprehended in a traffic stop in Hardeeville, S.C., six days after the escape.

Stone said Tuesday that county officials are reviewing possible upgrades to the detention center's video surveillance system. He also noted that a policy change now requires a detention officer to accompany any inmates in the exercise yard.

Dozens of other inmates were moved to state prisons until the broken door to the exercise yard can be fixed, the sheriff said.

Miles has been in jail since February on charges of aiding and abetting an armed robbery, illegal possession of a firearm, misdemeanor larceny, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and reckless driving, authorities said.