Authorities are looking for an inmate who escaped from the Wyoming Boot Camp for youth offenders at the Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp in Newcastle this morning.
Twenty-four-year-old James Friesen was six months into a nine-month sentence in boot camp for forgery. While his peers were cleaning up after a welding class, authorities say Friesen climbed over a fence topped with razor ribbon and headed south.
Wyoming Department of Corrections spokesman Tim Lockwood says Friesen was the first inmate to escape from the boot camp. Lockwood says these minimum-security work programs help inmates transition into society.
“There are certain things that we do to help prepare them for either going to an adult community corrections facility or going on probation, so that they are more prepared for entering back into the community.”
Lockwood says Friesen is Caucasian, stands about 5-feet-10-inches tall and has brown hair and hazel eyes.
“While we want to apprehend this individual, we would expect people not to approach them. If they see this person, contact law enforcement. That’s their job, that’s what they’re there for. Let them take care of you.”
Lockwood says Friesen is from Natrona County, but officials are looking for him across the state.
