By Glenn Puit
McAlester News-Capital
MCALESTER, Okla. — One of two convicts who broke out of an Atoka County prison was captured in Kansas Wednesday.
Lance Colbert was apprehended on a highway in Spivey, Kansas just before 2 p.m., said Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman Jerrie Massie. Massie said the arrest was made by members of the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the Department of Corrections Fugitive Apprehension Unit Kansas State police and other members of law enforcement.
“He was in a vehicle...and he was armed with a revolver,” Massie said.
Colbert was serving a life sentence for a first degree murder conviction out of the Tulsa area.
A second escapee, Dwayne Motsenbocker, remains on the run. Mostenbocker is serving time for multiple robbery and escape charges.
It is unclear how Colbert obtained a firearm.
The men escaped Monday by cutting a hole in a fence at the facility. Massie said previously two corrections officers have resigned in wake of the escape.
“One...was a shift supervisor,” Massie said. “The officer indicated in the log the inmates were present for the counts when they were not and the shift supervisor indicated that a fence check was not performed.”
Massie also addressed why someone like Colbert — convicted of murder — was in a medium security facility in Stringtown.
“Medium security are secure facilities, so its not uncommon for someone convicted of murder to be at a medium security facility,” Massie said. “There are more than 2,000 people doing time for murder and we don’t have 2,000 maximum security beds for them.”