Escaped Convict Caught in Wisconsin

Garfield Lawson, an inmate from the Baraga Maximum Correctional Facility who escaped Saturday afternoon, August 6, was captured without incident, along with his accomplice, Kathy Sleep, a food service employee for the corrections facility, in Wisconsin early Monday morning, August 8.

Correctional facility officers were placed at the Mackinac Bridge toll booths to patrol a possible exit attempt out of the Upper Peninsula for the two persons.

Mr. Lawson, 35, was sentenced to life in prison in 1999 on three counts of assault with intent to murder, assaulting a jail employee, and carrying a weapon with unlawful intent, according to the Corrections Department’s Web site. Mr. Lawson also escaped from the Saginaw County Jail in 1997 and was captured two years later.

Ms. Sleep, 42, is believed to have aided Mr. Lawson’s escape from the Baraga facility, escaping with a Department of Corrections food truck, which was recovered in L’Anse.

According to the L’Anse Michigan State Police, the two are being held in the Marathon County Jail in Wisconsin, and may be transferred back to Michigan.