
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 11, 1994                   TAG: 9412120075
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LEXINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

INMATE TURNS HIMSELF IN AT PARENTS' HOME

A state inmate who escaped after hearing that his mother had cancer surrendered Saturday to authorities after visiting home, Department of Corrections officials said.

Michael D. Hall, 31, gave himself up about 6 p.m. in Rockbridge County, Corrections Department spokesman Jim Jones said.

Hall escaped Monday from the James River Correctional Center after earlier learning that his mother was ill, Jones said. The inmate drove away from a work detail in a state dairy truck, which he abandoned Tuesday in Charlottesville.

Jones said Hall completed his journey by walking through the woods and hitchhiking to his parents' home in Lexington.

He reached the home sometime Saturday afternoon, where ``his mother talked to him and they agreed he would give himself up,'' Jones said.

Hall's mother telephoned the department about 3:30 p.m.

Hall was picked up by a corrections official and was being held at the Powhatan Reception Center in Powhatan County until escape charges can be heard, Jones said. He will be moved to another correctional center after charges are heard.

Jones said an escape charge carries a sentence of not less than one year and not more than five. Hall was serving a 25-year sentence for breaking and entering, larceny and burglary in Rockbridge County.

by CNB