Inmate escapes during work detail

Police are searching for a man who escaped from a work detail at the Whitman County Jail on Saturday. Ronald A. Rutledge, 29, had 18 days left on a four-month sentence for burglary. He now faces a charge of first-degree escape. He was helping with maintenance outside the jail in Colfax about 7:45 p.m. Saturday when he fled, according to the Whitman County Sheriff’s Office. He was last seen fleeing north on foot wearing black-and-white jail clothes. He is believed to be in Dayton, Wash., possibly wearing gray sweatpants and Carhartt-style coveralls, driving a late-model Nissan truck. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at (509) 397-6266 or 911.