Thomas Daniel Ware
An inmate considered nonviolent escaped from the jail's work crew Thursday and was captured and returned to the detention center Friday afternoon.
Thomas Daniel Ware, trustee at the Clay County Detention Center, was allowed to work with the inmate work crew program. He was being held pending trial for crimes not related to the threat or injury of another person. In the early afternoon hours of Thursday, April 16, Ware and another inmate were mowing grass near the Clay County Transfer Station on Hinton Center Road when he fled.
"While just out of sight, around a slight bend in the shoulder of the roadway he was mowing, Ware parked the mower and fled on foot," according to Sheriff Mark Buchanan. "Within 2-3 minutes after absconding, the supervising detention officer discovered Ware missing."
Ware was not armed when he fled. An intensive search of the area was conducted throughout the afternoon by officers on foot, in vehicles and utilizing arial drones.
The search was a united effort among the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, Towns County Sheriff's Office, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigations, the Macon County Sheriff’s Office, Clay County 911 Dispatch, N.C. Wildlife Agency and the TVA Police, according to a press release.
Ware was taken into custody on Downings Creek Road without incident around 2:30 p.m. Friday, April 17. Ware indicated he had primarily been hiding in a remote wooded area since his escape. Ware told officers that he fled the work crew to see his mother who was terminally ill. Ware was told the detention center would have made those accommodations if he had informed them that his mother was terminally ill.
"The Clay County Detention Center will always try to make arrangements for inmates to see loved ones who are terminally ill. Of course, after verifying the condition of Ware's mother and making appropriate security arrangements, the detention center will make this happen regardless of Ware’s escape," Buchanan said. "The detention center has in the past even taken inmates to funerals for loved ones. To be completely transparent, taking any inmate out of state can be extremely difficult due to extradition related issues that require extensive coordination with the court systems within North Carolina and the other states involved. Regardless, the detention center will always do everything within their power to make these visits and funeral attendances happen."
"The Clay County Sheriff’s Office and Detention Center would like to thank the public for their vigilance in watching out for Ware's whereabouts prior to him being captured," Buchanan said in the release. "Please know that while implementing the Inmate Work Crew Program, the Clay County Sheriff's Office and Detention Center will never allow an inmate to participate in the program that might pose a risk to the public while working or in the most unlikely event they abscond."