INDEPENDENCE, Minn. (Northern News Now) - Authorities are searching Wednesday for an inmate who escaped from a correctional facility north of Duluth.

He walked away from NERCC, which is a correctional work farm.

The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said staff at the Northeast Regional Corrections Center reported inmate Michael Hart escaped custody from the facility Tuesday evening and appears to be on the run.

On Wednesday, the search was concentrated in Independence near Beaver Lake Road which is about six miles from the facility Hart escaped from.

Division Commander Wade Rasch says Hart escaped during what he calls the “appropriate movement of other NERCC inmates.” Search efforts began immediately after that late last night.

This morning, two known female associates of Hart were fo

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