Man arrested 46 years after escaping from prison

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Police say an East Tennessee man who escaped from prison more than 46 years ago has been arrested.

Authorities say 73-year-old Leroy Albert Morgan was apprehended in Mosheim as part of the Tennessee Department of Correction’s Operation Clean Sweep, a program targeting old escape cases. He had been using the alias James Albert Morgan.

Police told WGRV-AM 1340 that Morgan escaped along with two other men from the old Tennessee State Prison in Nashville in September 1961.

Morgan had served less than a year of a three-year sentence for burglary in Hamilton County.

Authorities say he will serve the remaining time on his sentence at Brushy Martin Correctional Complex, a maximum security prison in Petros. The Davidson County District Attorney General is deciding if it will pursue escape charges against Morgan.