Mobile-area residents were asked to stay alert in late June 2015 as law enforcement searched for an escaped Alabama Department of Corrections inmate believed to have ties to the city. David Curtis Wood, 58, walked away from the Camden Work Release Center on June 23, according to state corrections officials, setting off a coordinated search across multiple counties.
Wood was serving a life sentence tied to an assault and burglary conviction out of Mobile, and investigators said he had family connections in the city that could make it an appealing place to hide. Descriptions distributed to the public noted he might still be wearing a green prison-issue jumpsuit, a detail authorities hoped would help residents spot him quickly.
On the Saturday after his escape, Mobile police and federal marshals converged on a section of west Mobile, temporarily closing an intersection while they searched the area. Despite the show of force, officers did not locate Wood that day, and the search continued into the following week with agencies coordinating across jurisdictions.
Work release centers like the one in Camden allow eligible inmates nearing the end of long sentences to hold outside jobs under supervision, a system corrections officials say helps with reentry but occasionally results in walkaways. Escapes from such facilities typically trigger swift multi-agency responses, since the inmates are already in the community and familiar with local roads and family networks.
The Alabama Department of Corrections urged anyone with information on Wood’s whereabouts to avoid approaching him directly and instead contact local police or the department’s statewide hotline. Officials stressed that tips from residents, even seemingly minor ones about vehicles or visitors at family homes, often prove decisive in searches like this one.
For Mobile County residents, the episode served as a reminder of the close relationship between the work-release system and public safety, and of how quickly a routine correctional matter can turn into a citywide search involving multiple law enforcement agencies working together to protect neighborhoods.