This Would be Hilarious, if it Wasn't Not Funny

Phillip called yesterday during my lunch hour and said it appeared they may be fixing to go back on lock down, reason unknown. He did not call last night, which normally he no doubt would have because it was my uncle's birthday. He called today during my lunch hour and said that they had been on lock down, but it was over now. He said someone escaped from there, and asked had I seen anything on the news. No. But you can bet when lunch was over I checked it out online:

Reprinted here without specific permission (but also without economic gain to me and with credit given to the source) from The Town Talk Newspaper, Alexandria/Pineville, Louisiana (because in 7 days the story will go to archives and become inaccessible so it would be foolish to link it):

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Escapee questioned by Ball police, released when officer couldn't make ID

Richard Lee McNair was stopped by a Ball police officer on Wednesday not long after he escaped from the U.S. Penitentiary in Pollock, but was released, Ball Police Chief David Covington tells The Town Talk.

Covington said the photo provided to his department by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons was of poor quality, and that his officer could not make a positive identification from that photo. He said it wasn't until hours later, when a better photo had been received, that they realized what had happened.

Covington said that an officer stopped McNair around 4 p.m. as he was jogging along railroad tracks near Gilley Williams and Oak Lane roads. McNair told the officer that his brother had dropped him off in the area, that he had a roofing job in the area and that he was staying at a local motel.

Covington said his officer had no reason to hold McNair, based on the information available then.

McNair, 47, was serving a life sentence for murder, criminal attempt and burglary at the penitentiary. He escaped on Wednesday by hiding in a warehouse at the prison complex and then riding out in a mail vehicle.

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Oh, look, the story made CNN.com, too. I note that at this point CNN's story is quite small and there's been no update since yesterday. I suspect their coverage of the story will get bigger the longer this guy is on the loose. Or perhaps CNN didn't get wind yesterday that the Ball police blew an opportunity to apprehend him, since there's no mention of that in their small article. They might just be all over it when they do get wind of it.

Oh, wait, better yet, let's get that Nancy Grace on the story. I can't stand her, but boy, would she be ALL OVER this. And not just the Ball police, but the penitentiary too. The guy rode out in the mail truck? Goodness. I certainly hope he didn't assault the mailman in the process. That's a federal crime in and of itself, you know, aside from the new escape charge and the fact that he was never getting out of prison anyway because when the feds say a life sentence, they mean life. And when they do catch him (well, assuming), where in the hell do they keep a guy who has managed to break himself out of a maximum security prison?

Am I the only one who's glad they don't live in Ball, Louisiana?