SPRINGVILLE, Ala. (AP) - A man serving a life sentence after being convicted of murder has escaped an Alabama prison for the second time in less than 20 years.
The Department of Corrections says 64-year-old Steve Ray Murphy fled the St. Clair Correctional Facility early Tuesday.
A news release doesn't say how Murphy got out of the maximum-security lockup, which has been plagued by violence and overcrowding.
Court records show Murphy was indicted on a charge of escaping from the same prison in 2001. And records show Murphy pleaded guilty in another escape from the Colbert County Jail in 1983.
The prison system says Murphy was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1984 for a murder conviction in Colbert County.
