Inmate carves way out of jail and is on the run, Texas police say

LONGVIEW, Texas - UPDATE: 34-year-old Jace Martin Laws is back in custody as of this morning, according to the Gregg County Sheriff’s Office.

Texas officials are searching for an inmate who escaped the Gregg County jail in Longview Thursday after carving through a brick wall to escape from his cell, a Facebook post by the county sheriff’s department said.

Jace Martin Laws, 34, was originally booked on Sept. 7, 2018, for marijuana possession before being released the next day, The Telegraph newspaper in Macon, Ga., reported.

The next week, Laws was arrested by the Gregg County Sheriff’s Office for marijuana possession, burglary of a building, burglary of a vehicle, evading arrest and assaulting a Longview police officer, jail records say.

After allegedly freeing himself from his cell, he was able to access the building’s infrastructure and gain his freedom leaving the Gregg County Courthouse, the Telegraph reported.

Investigators believe he may be in Marion County, near Lake of the Pines in East Texas, and say he could be wearing dark clothing and may have shaved his head, the newspaper reported.

People should not attempt to approach or apprehend Laws, police warned.