LAPLACE – A St. John Parish prisoner who escaped from a work release job in LaPlace is back in custody after missing for more than a month, said a spokesman for the department.

Maj. Mike Tregre, public information officer for the Sherriff’s Office, said John Patrick Hyde, 36, was apprehended Friday by a fugitive task force from the U.S. Marshals. Tregre said an anonymous tip led authorities to a home in Prairieville where Hyde, a resident of Baton Rouge, was found sleeping.

Upon arrest, Hyde was transported to the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office where he was booked as a fugitive for St. John Parish. He was later sent back to St. John Parish to be rebooked into the Sherman Walker correctional Facility.

Tregre said Hyde had been working at Complete Electric Motor Co., on West Fifth Street, as part of the state Department of Corrections’ work release program when he disappeared from the job on February 22. He said Hyde only had a few months left on a five-year sentence for charges in East Baton Rouge Parish of possession of narcotics with intent to distribute.

Tregre said deputies are still trying to determine how Hyde escaped from the job.

Deputies said Hyde’s employer thought he had gone back to jail with the program coordinator assigned to pick him up. Anyone with any information about the escape should contact the Sheriff’s Office at 985-652-9545.