INMATE TAKES PLEA DEAL FOR FIRE CAMP ESCAPE, DRUG SMUGGLING INCIDENT

After he escaped from a prison fire camp and tried to smuggle drugs back in, an inmate at Pelican Bay State Prison is facing additional time. In April law enforcement spent three days searching for Justin Hardin. He was working with a prison crew at Alder Conservation Camp in Klamath when he escaped. They found him near camp boundaries with five grams of heroin and meth, as well as marijuana. Del Norte County District Attorney Jon Alexander says Hardin has accepted an open plea for the incident. A judge will decide how much additional time he will serve which could be up to 12 years. Hardin is currently serving time for a 2010 conviction of corporal injury to his spouse. He has prior convictions dating back to 1998 for stolen property, grand theft, and controlled substance possession.