Escapee Captured

PIKEVILLE - An inmate who escaped from the Southeastern Tennessee State Regional Correctional Facility is now back in TDOC custody.

Garland Godsey, 44, was captured Tuesday evening in Cumberland County.  He escaped from a minimum-security work detail near the prison in Bledsoe County late Sunday afternoon.

Godsey's family contacted the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to arrange for his peaceful surrender.

TDOC Agents along with the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department, the Bledsoe County Sheriff's Department, Crossville Police and the TBI combined efforts to search for and subsequently capture Godsey.

Godsey was serving a 25-year prison sentence for a second-degree murder conviction out of Cumberland County.  His sentence would have expired in 2018.

Godsey has been transported to the Morgan County Correctional Complex in Wartburg where he will be held in maximum security and face escape charges.