Update: November 30, 2021. Shwilliam Cheevis was captured more than 200 miles north of the facility. Read more.
By Elyse Carmosino
The Advocate
JACKSON, La. — The search for an inmate who escaped from a Jackson prison on Thanksgiving has expanded to surrounding states, prison officials say.
Shwilliam Cheevis, 23, broke out of the Dixon Correctional Institute early Thursday morning and became the focus of an intensive manhunt throughout greater Baton Rouge.
Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections spokesman Ken Pastorick said the search was “called off” locally after investigators reported that Cheevis possibly made his way across state lines. In a phone call, Pastorick clarified that the search has actually expanded beyond Louisiana’s capital and surrounding parishes.
“We are focusing regionally now, meaning across the South, because we have reason to believe he left the area,” Pastorick said. “We’ve contacted our law enforcement partners in other cities and towns and areas in the south and shared the information we have.”
Cheevis is described as 5-foot-7 and 138 pounds.
He is serving 15 years for aggravated second-degree battery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
He was transferred to Dixon Correctional from Claiborne Detention Center on March 22 and was an inmate trusty, officials said.
Prior to his sentencing in 2019, Cheevis was on two years probation for an illegal use of a weapon conviction in Caddo Parish.
Before it was expanded, the local search for Cheevis involved chase teams from Dixon and LDPSC, as well as sheriff’s offices in East Feliciana and West Feliciana parishes and the U.S. Marshals.
Pastorick said he was unable to share more details about the search, but urged anyone with information about Cheevis’ whereabouts to contact Dixon Correctional Institute at (225) 634-6000.
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