A Beckley Correctional Center inmate who had been granted work release is being charged with felony escape after failing to return from employment, according to a corrections official.
Dawn Amber Martin, 32, of Lesage, did not return from employment Wednesday evening and was taken into custody Thursday afternoon in Beckley, said Jim Rubenstein, commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Corrections.
She will now go to Lakin Correctional Center, Rubenstein said. Lakin is a maximum security facility in Mason County and the only all-female correctional facility in the state. Beckley Correctional Center is a minimum security facility. The felony escape charge carries a possible sentence of one to five years.
"I don't quite understand it because they're at the lowest level of our classifications," Rubenstein said. "They're out working and earning and are able to save money at this low level. They even have the opportunity to earn 72-hour furloughs... Sadly we have some of these."
Martin was originally charged with forgery or uttering, fraud with an access device and failure to appear after being released on bond. Rubenstein said those charges were out of Cabell and Raleigh counties.