Prison escapee who walked off job captured

Published 10:34 pm Sunday, August 30, 2020

HIGH POINT (AP) — A minimum security inmate who walked away from from a prison job assignment in Apex has been captured.

Prison officials say Michael Lee Willis-Rockett was taken into custody Sunday at about 9 a.m. after he was identified at a hotel in High Point. Officials say he was given away by his tattoos.

Officials say Willis-Rockett, an inmate at Wake Correctional Center, walked away from his job assignment at the Department of Public Safety’s Correction Enterprise warehouse in Apex, where he loaded trucks.

He has been serving a two-year sentence for identity theft and had been scheduled for release in December. He is now charged with escape.