Officials search for escapee from minimum security prison

(McAlester-AP) -- Authorities are searching today for an inmate who apparently walked away from the minimum security Jackie Brannon Correctional Center in McAlester.

Department of Corrections personnel discovered inmate Michael Fowler missing during a head count at nine last night.

J-B-C-C spokesman Bob Jameson says Fowler was serving five years on a 1999 drug conviction from Tulsa County.

Jameson says tracking dogs trailed Fowler to a convenience store, where the trail was lost.

Jameson says Fowler may have left the convenience store in a vehicle and could be headed to the Tulsa area.