His time served, former TCI inmate charged for 2017 escape

By DEUCE NIVEN

tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com

     Freedom lasted less than two days after Tabor Correctional Institution inmate Ricky Robinson walked away from a work detail at Columbus Correctional Institution in 2017.

     His freedom upon release from state custody Sunday was more brief, the 63-year-old serving time as a habitual felon with a history of break-ins, thefts and kidnapping immediately back in handcuffs and taken from Mecklenburg County to the Columbus County Detention Center to face the four-year-old charges.

     Robinson’s June 20, 2017 escape sparked a manhunt that involved prison staff and the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office, with inmate caught about 1 a.m. two days later in a home not far from CCI, near the town of Brunswick, NC Department of Public Safety spokesman Jerry Higgins said at the time.

     A minimum custody inmate at TCI, Robinson had been assigned to perform janitorial duties at CCI and walked away, unobserved, his escape later notices by prison staff.