Update: WA state prison escapee from Connell captured 100 miles away

A 29-year-old convicted robber who escaped overnight from Coyote Ridge Corrections Center made it as far as Spokane before he was captured.

Joshua Michael Lanter was tracked down and arrested in Spokane at about noon Monday.

Spokane police helped in the capture, according to an updated news release from the Washington state Department of Corrections.

Online records for the Spokane County jail show he is being held without bail, and may have a new felony case for allegedly stealing a vehicle in Spokane while he was on the run.

Spokane is about 100 miles northeast of Coyote Ridge.

The Corrections Department did not release more details about his escape or capture.

Lanter is believed to have climbed over a tall security fence in his escape from the Franklin County prison, which is about 30 miles north of Pasco.

Corrections officers discovered Lanter was missing early Monday morning during routine checks in the minimum security unit, the Department of Corrections said in an earlier news release.

The prison’s Inmate Recovery Team and department’s Community Response Unit were deployed to search for Lanter, with assistance from Connell Police Department, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and Washington State Patrol.

Lanter has been serving sentences for convictions from King and Snohomish counties for robbery, burglary, malicious mischief and taking a vehicle without permission.

He was scheduled to be released from prison in September 2022.

This story was originally published February 14, 2022 at 10:23 AM.