A Georgia Department of Correction inmate who has been housed at Hays State Prison in Chattooga County is facing escape charges in Jefferson County, Georgia and in Pooler, Georgia in connection with an incident where he stole a county road grader while out on a work detail earlier this year.

Richard Bruce Salyer fled from a work detail at the Jefferson County Correctional Institution on October 27 on a Jefferson County road grader. Salyer was eventually captured a week later 116 miles away in Chatham County where he had left the county road grader behind a church.

Pooler Police arrested the escaped inmate and returned him to the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections.  Police say that at the time of his arrest, Salyer was in possession of a handgun and ammunition, two Amazon packages and a stolen driver’s license.

State corrections officials originally took Salyer to Coastal State Prison in Savannah before he was transferred some 235 miles away to Hays State Prison in Chattooga County.

Salyer was facing a release date of December 19, 2023 – but now he will be returned to Jefferson County and Chatham County to face charges in those jurisdictions.