Police scoured Carroll and Haralson counties Tuesday for an inmate who had walked off from a prison work detail the night before in Carrollton.

But while it may have been easy for Mark Anthony Wilkins, 41, of Carrollton to slip away from a work crew supervised by a single jail officer, he could not evade an army of local law enforcement agencies. Nor for long.

Within 24 hours of his disappearance from the detail, Wilkins found himself back in jail, only this time facing a potential felony instead of just the minor charges that originally put him behind bars.

Carroll County sheriff’s Maj. David Jordan said the inmate had last been seen walking in the northern end of the county near Haralson County along Pleasant Ridge Road and Hurst Mill Road just before noon Tuesday. Deputies in both counties continued to hunt for the suspect throughout the evening.

Police found Wilkins about 5 p.m. walking on Interstate 20 near the Miller Academy Bridge at Highway 27 in Haralson County.

Jordan said Wilkins was part of a six-man crew working in the city Monday when he managed to slip away from the supervision of a jailer, whom authorities said almost immediately noticed the inmate’s disappearance following a head count of inmates on the work detail.

Wilkins could now face more than double the initial sentence he was ordered to serve by a Carroll County judge.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, Wilkins was serving an eight-month term in Carroll County after he was arrested on Jan. 21 on a traffic-related charged for violating the terms of his probation for a previous misdemeanor conviction of driving with a suspended license.

Jordan said Wilkins was among approximately 70 sheriff’s inmates who participate in work details performing manual labor such as trash pickup, building repair, cleanup, and lawn work across the county and for the cities of Carrollton, Villa Rica, Bowdon and Temple.

For an inmate to be eligible to leave confinement at the jail on Newnan Road, Jordan said certain requirements must be met. All inmates on work crews must hold the minimum security classification, which means they have been convicted of non-violent offenses such as misdemeanor possession of drugs, traffic violations, probation violations for misdemeanor charges and have been sentenced to serve not more than 12 months in confinement.

Although work crews of about 70 inmates are sent around the county to perform labor outside of the jail, Jordan said it is uncommon for an inmate to escape from the work detail, especially since the inmates are not serving lengthy sentences for their convictions. A conviction on the felony charge of escape carries a one- to 10-year sentence in prison.

“This rarely happens,” he said. “From time to time, with the inmates, there sometimes does arise circumstances in the outside environment that can’t be controlled.”

Jordan said the inmate work detail program is an effective and efficient resource for the county to utilize to curb costs on labor-intensive projects.

“Our goal is to work the inmates, and we will continue to use inmate labor to help out in the community to save money in labor costs,” Jordan said.

Six separate agencies took part in the search - Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, Bremen police, Haralson County Sheriff’s Office, Tallapoosa police, Georgia State Patrol and Carrollton police Crime Suppression Unit.