Last prisoner captured from Lino Lakes prison break

Updated 4:40 p.m. | Posted 11:57 a.m.

Minneapolis police say the remaining fugitive who'd escaped a suburban Twin Cities prison Friday morning in a van loaded with other prisoners has been caught.

James Douglas Mitchell was among nine prisoners in the van when it escaped from the state correctional facility at Lino Lakes.

Five were captured in the Mounds View area. Four, including Mitchell, took the vehicle to north Minneapolis. Three were discovered still in the van.

Authorities spent hours in the late morning and early afternoon searching for Mitchell with K-9s and a helicopter in the blocks near where the van was found before clearing the scene without finding him.

At around 4:30 p.m., Mitchell was captured by Interstate 35W in Minneapolis after being spotted in a park.

His arrest ended an anxious morning and afternoon for law enforcement.

A Public Safety Department official said the escape began while the prisoners were being transferred in the van from the state prison in St. Cloud and made a stop at the Lino Lakes prison, where a prisoner gained control of the vehicle.

Minneapolis police say state officials alerted them that four of the escapees might be headed toward north Minneapolis.

Just before noon, officers got a 911 call from a citizen on the 3800 block of Thomas Avenue N. who spotted the prison van. Minneapolis police officials say the three inmates in the van stayed in the vehicle voluntarily.

Mitchell, 26, was in prison on a felony charge of using deadly force against a peace officer/prosecutor/judge or correction employee. He'd been serving time at the St. Cloud prison.

Lino Lakes is a minimum and medium security prison in Anoka County with a population of 1,300 men, according to its website.