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KSP: Escaped Inmate Walks Right By Jail Staff

Posted at 10:33 AM, Nov 15, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-15 13:33:26-05

ROCKCASTLE COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18)– Authorities are searching for a man who reportedly escaped from Rockcastle County Detention Center.

Kentucky State Police got a call around 8 a.m. that 35-year-old Justin Cody Witt had escaped.

Preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 7:45 AM, inmate Justin Cody. Whitt, 35, of Mount Vernon, somehow walked past jail staff as they were letting inmates out of the detention center for a work release detail. Upon walking outside the detention center Whitt fled the area on foot. A perimeter was established and a search of the area was conducted, however, Whitt was not located. Due to bad weather conditions, an aerial search was not possible.

Whitt had been in custody on the charges of Fleeing and Evading police and several drug charges.

Whitt is described as being 6’, 220 lbs., with brown eyes, was last seen wearing solid orange coveralls, and believed to still be in the Mount Vernon area.

Search units are focusing on the area around the jail.