NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials are searching for a minimum-security inmate who walked away from California Correctional Center Alder Conservation Camp in Del Norte County on Tuesday.

During an inmate count at around 8:50 a.m. on Tuesday, staff discovered inmate Lester Jackson, 30, missing during the morning meal.

An emergency count was initiated and staff confirmed Jackson was missing. A search of the camp buildings and grounds was immediately conducted. Jackson was last seen at approximately 7:15 a.m. wearing gray sweat pants.

CDCR’s Office of Correctional Safety, Cal Fire, the California Highway Patrol and local law enforcement agencies have been notified and are assisting in the search.

Jackson was assigned as a firefighter at Alder Conservation Camp in Klamath, which houses approximately 110 minimum-custody inmates.

Jackson is a black male, 6 feet 1 inches tall, weighing 170 pounds with brown eyes, long black hair worn in dreadlocks, a mustache and a short beard.

He was received from Solano County in May 2011 with an 11-year, 10-month sentence for second-degree robbery, false imprisonment and carjacking. He was scheduled to parole in June 2020.

Anyone who sees Jackson should call 911 or contact law enforcement authorities immediately.

Anyone having knowledge of Jackson’s whereabouts should contact the CCC Watch Commander at 530-257-2181, extension 4173.

Jackson is the third inmate to walk away from a conservation camp over the past week.

On Friday evening, Derek Barnett, 29, and Noah Wilson, 28, walked away from the California Correctional Center Eel River Conservation Camp in Humboldt County, as Lake County News has reported.

Officials said Barnett later was apprehended in Ukiah and Wilson was taken into custody following a traffic stop off Interstate 5 south of Fort Tejon.