EDINBURGH — A minimum-security inmate is back in state custody today after a short-lived escape from the Edinburgh Correctional Facility that triggered a multi-agency search.
Montez Beech, 33, was recaptured by Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) officers around 9:30 a.m. Friday morning. His return to custody ends a search that began late Thursday night when Beech reportedly “walked away” from the facility, which is located on the grounds of Camp Atterbury.
Investigators believe Beech fled the facility at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 7. Preliminary reports indicate he was picked up by a “known associate” in a vehicle shortly after leaving the grounds.
That associate is now being treated as a person of interest as authorities investigate whether the escape was coordinated in advance. Following his capture on Friday morning, Beech was transported back to an IDOC facility. He had been serving a sentence for an auto theft conviction out of Hamilton County following an arrest in Fishers in late 2024.
The Edinburgh Correctional Facility is a minimum-security “work camp” where incarcerated individuals often participate in supervised work crews across the region. While the IDOC emphasizes that such escapes are rare—with only a handful of “walk-aways” reported over the last two decades—this incident follows a high-profile escape in late 2023.
In that previous case, an inmate stole a supervisor’s truck to flee the facility, resulting in a 12-year sentence increase. Following that event, Warden Bryan Dobbs implemented more rigorous “census counts” and updated policies regarding the security of personal items like car keys and cell phones among staff.
Beech will likely face new felony charges for escape, which in Indiana can carry a significant addition to an existing prison sentence. Furthermore, inmates who escape from minimum-security facilities are typically reclassified and moved to higher-security institutions, such as the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility.
The IDOC investigation into the coordination of this escape remains ongoing.
