Staff report

BEAUMONT – A 27-year-old federal prison inmate has been indicted for escaping from prison and returning with contraband, U.S. Attorney Alan R. Jackson said Thursday.

Joshua Randall Hansen was charged in the two-count indictment with escape from a federal facility and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. The indictment was returned by a federal grand jury.

The indictment said on Jan. 24, law enforcement officers arrested Hansen outside the perimeter of the prison camp at the Federal Correctional Complex at 5830 Knauth Road, Beaumont. Hansen is a federal inmate and was not authorized to be outside the facility.

At the time of his arrest, officers said, Hansen was on his way back to the prison camp and was in possession of a duffle bag that contained marijuana and alcohol, which he intended to distribute within the compound. It also contained cooked food, tobacco, packaged snacks and fruit.

It was unknown Thursday where Hanson got the duffle bag. The investigation is continuing, a spokewoman said.

If convicted, Hansen, who was in prison for a federal narcotics violation in Dallas, faces up to an additional five years in federal prison.

The U.S. Marshals Service, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Prisons is investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall L. Fluke will prosecute the case.