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Former Alabama prison escapee and murder suspect Casey White’s attorneys are asking that he be transferred to a new detention center, according to Lauderdale County court records.
White, whom U.S. Marshals recaptured in Indiana after 11 days on the run in May, is currently being housed at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Jefferson County, but the 38-year-old inmate’s defense team is pushing to have him transferred to the Cullman County Detention Center in Cullman County.
Prosecutors say they are “in need” of White’s transfer “so that he will be readily accessible to the defense team for trial preparation,” but several inmates have escaped the Cullman prison in recent years, raising concern for a relative of White’s alleged victim.
“For obvious reasons, we’re very opposed to moving him to a less secure facility, for his safety as much as anyone else’s,” Austin Williams, the son of Casey White’s alleged murder victim, Connie Ridgeway, told Fox News Digital on Friday.
Casey White is seen in his latest mugshot photo.
(Alabama Department of Correction)
Most recently, in May, the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office announced the capture of Adam Nicholas Ryan Baldwin, 35, who escaped in April after petitioning for a temporary release to attend a family funeral.
ALABAMA JAIL GUARD VICKY WHITE SHOWED CASEY WHITE SPECIAL TREATMENT BEFORE ESCAPE
A year prior, the sheriff’s office also captured inmate Andrea Shepherd, 25, who was assigned to a work release program and “walked away from the local business where she was employed.”
In March 2021, Cullman County officials caught Leo Chavez, the last of four inmates who escaped from the prison in March 2021. Chavez was convicted for murdering his parents.
White was serving a 75-year prison sentence when he was transferred from a state prison to the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence to stand trial there on unrelated murder charges in the death of Ridgeway, 58, a killing to which authorities say he confessed in 2020 before pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. He escaped two years later.
CASEY WHITE ESCAPE: TIMELINE FOR ALABAMA MURDER SUSPECT WHO WAS CAPTURED AFTER MANHUNT
Williams previously told Fox News Digital that he had no idea White had been transferred to Lauderdale before the May escape and is pushing for a new law that would require authorities to inform victims’ families whenever an inmate is moved to a new facility.
While in Lauderdale, and with the help of the jail’s former assistant director of corrections, Vicky White, Casey White walked out in broad daylight, got into her marked cruiser, and together they escaped, surveillance video shows. The two were not related but were romantically involved, according to authorities.
Casey White mugshot photo, Vanderburgh County Sheriff; Vicky White
(Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office; Lauderdale County)
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The 11-day manhunt ended in a police chase in Vanderburgh County, Indiana. After a U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force pit maneuver overturned their vehicle, Vicky White shot herself in the head, according to investigators. Casey White surrendered.
He could face the death penalty if convicted of killing Ridgeway.
White’s trial is scheduled to begin on Dec. 12.
