Escaped Hall of Justice inmate found three blocks away

An inmate who escaped from San Francisco County Jail earlier this month was located Wednesday night at a San Francisco homeless shelter and taken into custody, the sheriff’s chief deputy said.

Timothy Midgett, 40, of San Francisco, escaped on June 7 when he was escorted around 5 a.m. to the basement of the Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant St. to take out the trash as part of his daily job duties when he ran out a door, senior sheriff’s Deputy Enrique Luquin said.

Midgett ran away and the supervising deputy ran after him but couldn’t catch up and lost him, sheriff’s officials said.

At about 8 p.m. Wednesday, sheriff’s deputies received a phone call reporting that Midgett was at 525 Fifth St., which houses the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s homeless shelter, Chief Deputy Sheriff Kathy Gorwood said.

Sheriff’s deputies and a sergeant made contact with Midgett and took him into custody at 8:10 p.m., Gorwood said. Midgett has been booked into jail for a felony escape with a no bail warrant, according to Gorwood.

Midgett was initially booked on July 25, 2013 and was due for release this July 24, according to the sheriff’s department. He was sentenced on a felony drug possession charge last August and is still wanted on a narcotics warrant out of Houston, according to Luquin.

Following the inmate’s escape, Luquin said the sheriff’s department would be conducting a review of its policies and procedures.

— Hannah Albarazi and Sasha Lekach, Bay City News