Man who escaped from Chowan County Jail is sentenced to nine years in prison for gun possession

RALEIGH, NC (WITN) – A man who was on the run for two days after escaping from an Eastern Carolina prison is being taken to a federal prison.

Russell Health was sentenced to nine years in prison by a federal court.

The 48-year-old Albemarle man pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says Health escaped from the Chowan County Jail on October 19, 2022, using a knife.

According to federal authorities, he managed to put a prison guard in a headlock and held a knife to his throat while threatening to kill him.

According to a press release, the man then locked two officers in a cell before changing clothes and escaping from the prison.

Health was arrested two days later in Moyock and officers found a loaded .40 caliber handgun near where the man fell to the ground after being tasered.

The man has already pleaded guilty in state court to two counts of second-degree kidnapping and escape.

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