4 inmates escape from federal prison satellite camp in Virginia, officials say

HOPEWELL, Va. — Four inmates are missing after they “walked away” from a satellite campus of a federal prison over the weekend, authorities said.

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According to NPR, officials discovered shortly before 2 a.m. Saturday that 41-year-old Corey Branch, 44-year-old Tavares Lajuane Graham, 30-year-old Lamonte Rashawn Willis and 46-year-old Kareem Allen Shaw had vanished from the Federal Correctional Complex Petersburg’s minimum-security satellite camp in Hopewell, Virginia.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said Branch, a Black man with brown eyes and black hair, weighs 200 pounds and stands 5 feet, 8 inches tall, WTVR reported. He had been convicted of possessing and intending to distribute fentanyl, as well as a weapons charge, according to the news outlet.

Graham, who is Black and has brown eyes, is 6-foot-2 and weighs 245 pounds, officials said. He had been convicted of possessing and intending to distribute cocaine and cocaine base, as well as a weapons charge, WTVR reported.

Willis, who is Black with brown eyes, is 6-foot-2 and weighs 165 pounds, authorities said. He had been convicted of weapons charges, according to WTVR.

Officials said Shaw, who is Black with brown eyes and black hair, is 5-foot-8 and weighs 167 pounds, WTVR reported. He had been convicted of conspiring to possess heroin and intending to distribute the drug, authorities said.

It was not immediately clear whether the inmates escaped together, according to NPR.

Federal prisons officials alerted multiple agencies following the escape, including the U.S. Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the news outlets reported. Officials have begun an internal investigation, according to The Associated Press.

No additional information about the search was released Sunday, the AP reported.

– The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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