Otay Mesa

A prisoner serving a sentence for arson escaped from Donovan State Prison on Otay Mesa Saturday evening but was captured 1 1/2 hours later, the Sheriff’s Department reported.

The inmate, identified by authorities as G. Ogelsby, was seen running from the facility toward Brown Field around 6:34 p.m., the spokesman said.

The Sheriff’s Department had received several reports that a heavy-set man wearing blue clothes was running west toward the freeway.

A sheriff’s patrol sergeant apprehended Ogelsby at about 8 p.m. 12 miles from the prison at the intersection of Interstate 805 and California 905.

Authorities said the man apparently did not walk the entire way. “You can get rides from anybody these days,” said Sheriff’s Sgt. Harry Smith. “It’s a well-traveled area. He probably got a ride. And when you’re scared, you can also run pretty fast.”

The search for Ogelsby involved sheriff’s deputies, state prison guards and a helicopter.

Smith said authorities were not surprised that the inmate did not head for the Mexican border, about three miles from the prison.

“He probably figured that the authorities would assume he’d head toward Mexico and so he probably just ran in the other direction.”

Ogelsby was returned to Donovan State Prison late Saturday.