A 19-year-old Lincoln County Jail escapee turned himself inWednesday morning, nearly a week after he walked off a jail kitchenwork detail.

Joseph G. Arnold, of 900 Williams St., was awaiting trial on acharge of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute when heapparently left the jail around 6 a.m. Oct. 12, said Lincoln CountySheriff Steve Rushing.

Arnold will now also face an escape charge, the sheriffsaid.

Rushing gave no indication of why Arnold chose to leave thefacility when a bond for the possession charge had already beenset. The sheriff did not say why Arnold chose to returnWednesday.

Rushing said following the escape that Arnold “obviously did notput a lot of thought into his decision. He was waiting on bond andcould have been out in hours or days. On these new charges, he willnot be eligible for bond.”

Additional security measures have been taken since Arnold left,Rushing said, but he could not discuss them because to do so mightcompromise those measures.

“I believe the steps I’m taking will solve the problem,” hesaid.

The sheriff did say, however, that he has added more supervisionof the inmates trusted to work on the kitchen detail.

Although several inmates have escaped from the jail since it wasconstructed nearly a decade ago, Rushing believes Arnold is thefirst to walk away from the three-year-old jail kitchen, which isin a separate building across the parking lot of the LincolnCounty-Brookhaven Government Complex from the jail.