Two men, including a murder suspect, escape from prison in Arkansas

Authorities were searching Tuesday for two men who escaped from a central Arkansas prison and were considered dangerous, in a manhunt that has mobilized law enforcement agencies across the state, officials said.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said in a rack on Tuesday, officers learned Monday morning that two inmates were missing from the WC “Dub” Brassell adult detention center in Pine Bluff, about 40 miles southeast of Little Rock.

Officials are investigating how the men, Noah Roush, 22, and Jatonia Bryant, 23, escaped undetected, Maj. John Bean, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said Tuesday. They likely fled within the past two days, he said, and are not believed to be armed.

The Arkansas State Police and the Department of Corrections are assisting in the investigation.

Major Bean said reverse 911 calls were made to Jefferson County's approximately 66,000 residents, warning them of the manhunt.

He added that officials were also investigating the relationship between the men and whether they worked together.

Mr. Roush, who was being held on probable cause charges for residential burglary and theft of property, had also been identified as a suspect in a homicide, the sheriff's office said.

Mr. Bryant had been arrested on murder charges, authorities said, stemming from the killing of Christopher Harris, 49, in Pine Bluff last summer. Police officers responded to reports of gunfire on July 29 and found Mr. Harris, who said he knew nothing about the gunfire, authorities said. The officers left and returned several minutes later in response to another report of gunfire. They discovered that Mr. Harris had been fatally shot, authorities said.

The manhunt has likely spooked some people who live near the prison, said Latisha Brunson, a city councilwoman in Pine Bluff, which has a population of about 40,000. However, she added that no one had called her to ask about the search.

“We're just letting law enforcement do their job,” Ms. Brunson said.

Steven Shaner, another Pine Bluff council member, said his biggest concern was that police find out exactly when the men escaped.

Last year, several communities across the country were gripped by high-profile manhunts involving hundreds of law enforcement officers, causing unrest in areas where refugees were thought to be hiding.

In September, Danelo Cavalcante, a Brazilian national convicted of murder, evaded authorities for nearly two weeks after escaping from a prison outside Philadelphia.

Last spring, a man accused of fatally shooting five people in a neighborhood dispute outside Cleveland, Texas, eluded capture for days as a manhunt stretched across the state to the Mexican border. The hunt for the suspect, Francisco Oropesa, ended when heavily armed state and federal agents found him in a home a few miles from where the shooting occurred.

Mr. Shaner said he had not heard or felt any widespread concerns about the manhunt in Pine Bluff on Tuesday morning. However, there was concern among city officials that the longer the search went on, the more worrisome it could become for residents.

When the Pine Bluff Detention Center opened in 2007, the number of jail beds tripled to 310, reducing problems of overcrowding, according to the county website. The prison was also equipped with video surveillance.

Mr. Shaner said that in the more than two decades he lived in Pine Bluff, he could not remember any other inmates who had escaped from prison.

“Hopefully they can get them back into custody soon,” he said.