Prison inmates still at large, officials say

No apprehensions or other significant developments have occurred in the past few days regarding two state prison inmates who were reported missing from a Newton facility Saturday evening.

Michael P. Amodeo, 27, and Jessy E. Foley, 30, walked away from Newton’s minimum security facility Correctional Release Center sometime Saturday evening. The Iowa Department of Corrections said the discovery was made during routine counts.

As of Wednesday morning, neither inmate has been apprehended. Both have ties to the greater Des Moines area. Jasper County Sheriff Chief Deputy Duane Rozendaal said no new information has been brought to his attention, and there have been no events to indicate a change to the level of risk to public safety.

Both subjects are described as about 5-feet,10-inches tall with brown eyes and brown hair. They were last seen wearing gray sweatshirts, blue shirts and blue jeans.

Anyone who has information about their whereabouts is asked to call 911 and to not approach the inmates.

Amodeo began serving a 10-year sentence in August for possession of a controlled substance from Polk County and prohibited acts-methamphetamine from Warren County.

Foley is serving time for possession of controlled substance, prohibited acts-meth and voluntary absence from Polk County. His 27-year sentence began in 2004.

On Monday, Iowa Council 61 President Danny Homan issued a statement regarding new information about Foley. He said Foley previously escaped from a community-based corrections facility and was later sent back to a Department of Corrections facility.

The CRC, the western half of the Newton Correctional Facility complex, is intended for inmates in the final months or years of their sentences, about to transition out of the prison system. Inmates can regularly be seen outside the main fence on the grounds; off-site work detail by inmates is a routine function of the CRC.

This marks the second time an inmate has recently escaped from the minimum security release center. Edward N. Shorter left the facility on Jan. 23 and was later apprehended in Des Moines.

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com