Prisoner working on highway walks away

THAYER, Mo. -- A prisoner doing roadside maintenance near the Missouri-Arkansas border walked away Wednesday and is now missing, officials said.

Bill B. Bonebrake, 40, was working with a group of prisoners from the South Central Correctional Center in Licking, picking up trash and doing other maintenance work.

He was serving a nine-year prison sentence for three counts of second-degree burglary from Daviess County and one count of forgery from Livingston County. Bonebrake had been incarcerated since 1994 and was scheduled to be released in November 2005.

The group of prisoners was working along U.S. 63 near Thayer in Oregon County. Department of Corrections spokesman John Fougere said the state Highway Patrol and an emergency squad from the prison were searching for Bonebrake along with local police.

Fougere said police had also been notified in Mammoth Spring, Ark., a town just across the state line.

"If any offender escapes or walks away, we always tell people not to confront the individual," Fougere said. If people think they have seen Bonebrake, they should call local law enforcement or the Highway Patrol, he said.

A prisoner also walked away from an outside work crew last year. That prisoner was captured almost immediately, Fougere said.

Prisoners who work outside are not shackled and wear gray pants and shirts. They must be incarcerated for a nonviolent offense and have a record of good conduct to work outside, Fougere said.