Update: Escaped inmate still on the loose

[Informer]

Police are searching for an escaped inmate whom they thought may have been inside a Tulsa apartment they surrounded Friday morning.

Michael Joe Pruitt, who escaped from Jim E. Hamilton Correctional Center in Hodgen on Wednesday night, went to his wife's apartment at East 14th Street and South Trenton Avenue early Friday with what police believe was the intent to harm her, Chief Ronald Palmer said.

After two hours of trying to establish contact with Pruitt by phone calls and voice announcements, officers obtained a key to the apartment about 7:15 a.m. only to find it was empty, Capt. Dave Roberts said. Pruitt is believed to have left before officers arrived.

Pruitt, 50, was serving five years in prison after being convicted in May of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in a Tulsa County case.

He is a 5-feet-9, 233-pound male with gray hair and hazel eyes. He has a tattoo that says "Jesus" with a cross on his left bicep and one that says "Loves Me" on his right bicep.

Pruitt's wife left the apartment before her husband arrived, Roberts said. Police were alerted of Pruitt's location about 5 a.m., when someone called 911 after receiving a voice message from him.

Neighbors in adjacent apartments were evacuated while police surrounded the complex.

The ramp off the Broken Arrow Expressway eastbound from South Utica Avenue was closed during the possible standoff but has since been reopened.