New Jersey inmate escapes from prison weeks before parole

HAMMONTON, N.J. -- Authorities are searching for an inmate who escaped from a minimum security prison in New Jersey weeks before he was due for parole.

Corrections Department spokesman Matt Schuman says 38-year-old Arthur Buckel was missing when guards at the Ancora unit of Bayside State Prison in Hammonton did a count at 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Schuman says Buckel, whose last known address was Clifton, was serving a sentence at the minimum security lockup for aggravated assault. He was scheduled to be paroled on May 21.

Buckel worked as a janitor in the prison.

Schuman says Buckel could face an addition 3 to 5 years in prison for escaping once he's recaptured.