Thumbnail photo: Jamie R. Watson | Courtesy of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation A 40-year-old Pelican Bay State Prison inmate is back in custody after he was reported missing from the minimum security facility at about 11:50 p.m. Friday. Sheriff’s deputies arrested 40-year-old Jamie R. Watson at about 7:12 a.m. Saturday, Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott told Redwood Voice Community News. According to the sheriff, Watson was spotted on Mud Hen Road near Lower Lake Road. The sheriff’s office arrested Watson and took him to the Del Norte County Jail before turning him back over to Pelican Bay authorities, Scott said. “It sounded like the guy had an injured ankle so he couldn’t get away easily,” the sheriff said. “He was apprehended and the sheriff’s office took him back to Pelican Bay.” Officials were alerted that Watson was missing at about 11:50 p.m. Friday. After an emergency count confirmed that he was missing, prison officials reached out to local law enforcement as well as the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Office of Correctional Safety to conduct a search. According to Scott, Pelican Bay notified the sheriff’s office at about 12:30 a.m. that a subject was seen running from the dorm toward the fenceline. They were unsure if the inmate scaled the fence. “Deputies responded while CDCR did a count and checked cameras to confirm the inmate had scaled the fence,” Scott said via text Saturday. Watson came to Pelican Bay from Siskiyou County on Feb. 5, 2024 where he was arrested for a parole violation for possession of narcotics, according to a CDCR news release. The prison’s minimum-security inmates are housed in a dorm setting outside the secure perimeter of the main institution, the news release stated. Pelican Bay currently houses about 2,045 minimum-, medium-, high- and maximum-security custody inmates and employs 1,400 people.