Inmate who escaped from Mendocino County prison camp caught in Vallejo

A state prison inmate who escaped from a Mendocino County conservation camp Friday was found and apprehended in Vallejo on Monday.

Jonathan Washington, 31, escaped from the Chamberlain Creek Conservation Camp sometime between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Friday, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said. Authorities were unsure how Washington escaped from the facility. The conservation camp is one of 44 camps operated by state corrections staff and Cal Fire with the primary purpose of providing fire crews for fire suppression.

Agents from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation apprehended Washington in Vallejo at 5:35 p.m. Monday, according to a prepared statement from the corrections department. Details about how he was located were not available as of press time.

Washington was committed to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Dec. 28, 2018 from Kings County to serve a three-year and eight-month term, the department said. Lt. Andrew Porter said Washington had been convicted of vandalism and domestic violence.

Washington will no longer be eligible to be housed in a conservation camp, the corrections department said. He is now being held in San Quentin State Prison, according to the department’s inmate locator system.

You can reach Staff Writer Chantelle Lee at 707-521-5337 or chantelle.lee@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ChantelleHLee.