MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - A convicted cocaine dealer is on the loose after escaping from the Millington federal prison. Travis Ware disappeared Sunday night. Shelby County Commissioner Terry Roland says no one in the county was notified until he started making calls about it.
Neighbors say it's not hard for prisoners to escape, as there's no fence and no guard out front. Curtis Miller has seen it before. He lives around the corner from the prison and knows prisoners typically go missing on Sundays, which are visiting days.
"Well, it's not an escape, you see any fences? You see any guards?... I just assume he left with his girlfriend on visiting day."
"I see these people out there cutting the grass all the time, usually they don't even have a guard with them," noted another neighbor, Ed Mynatt.
The minimum security prison typically houses "low risk" offenders. Commissioner Roland refers to the inmates as mostly "snitches."
"We've had trouble out of this federal prison before because of a hole in the fence and prisoners leaving and coming back," Roland stated.
Travis Ware, who is serving nearly a 20 year sentence on cocaine charges, escaped Sunday. Roland, along with most Shelby County law enforcement agencies, didn't hear about the missing prisoner until 24 hours after it happened. He says a dangerous criminal is on the street and no one was alerted.
"In this time of technology this shouldn't happen. I'm not going to ever let this happen on my watch again."
Roland said he is forming a committee to crack down on prison flaws and the communication breakdown.
