Authorities search for escaped inmate

NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The Lawrence County district attorney is questioning how jail personnel handled a pregnant inmate who escaped.
Authorities are searching for Claurice Ann Hudson, 25, of Sankey Street, who disappeared Oct. 22 in Pittsburgh.
Hudson, who is pregnant, was sent by ambulance to Magee-Womens Hospital for an emergency about 11 p.m. Oct. 21, district attorney Matthew Mangino said. Jail officials later realized she was sent unaccompanied, he said.
A deputy sheriff was sent the next morning to guard Hudson and found she had left the hospital. Mangino said he did not know if she had been released or escaped from the hospital, and he was unsure why she was sent.
Mangino said he spoke to the prison board and acting warden about the problem. "Hopefully, they learn from this. The policy is not at all ambiguous," he said.
Jail policy requires all inmates to be accompanied by jail personnel or a deputy when leaving the jail.
Mangino said Hudson had been scheduled for parole Oct. 25. She was in jail because three previous sentences had been revoked for parole violations.
She is also wanted on a warrant on charges of receiving stolen property, theft and forgery. Mangino said she will also face escape charges when she is captured.