COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Four inmates escaped from a Franklin County minimum security facility Thursday have been identified, according to Columbus police documents.

At the scene, a detective with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said four male inmates escaped from the Franklin County Community-Based Correctional Facility on the 1700 block of Alum Creek Drive.

The four inmates escaped by breaking a window, the detective said, adding law enforcement is working to get arrest warrants. The identities of the escapees were announced Friday morning.

According to a Columbus police radio run printout, the inmates’ names are as follows: Nikko Burton, Jeremy Bowen, Mark Long, and Michael Norton.

Jeremy Bowen (top left), Nikko Burton (top right), Mark Long (bottom left), Michael Norton (bottom right) (Courtesy: Franklin County Sheriff’s Office)

A spokesperson with the Franklin County Community Based Correctional Facility (CBCF) said the prisoners are not affiliated with the county, but will take over the investigation, and the inmates will be taken to Franklin County Jail once found.

“I can confirm that four individuals escaped from the Franklin County Community Based Correctional Facility (CBCF), a residential community correctional program, on the evening of May 22, 2025. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office is responsible for investigating individuals who violate the law during their residency with CBCF,” stated the spokesperson. “The facility’s processes and procedures are to first gather and verify the information related to the escape in order to file a report with the Sheriff’s Office so they can follow their investigatory process. We then immediately alert the authorities responsible for the individuals that their participation in the program is terminated.”

Burton was almost halfway through a three-year sentence of community control at the Alum Creek facility for receiving stolen property. In September 2024, however, he was charged with absconding from the facility, and an additional six months were added to his sentence in February.

Bowen previously pleaded guilty to burglary charges in three separate incidents in 2014, 2015, and 2016 and was sentenced to three years in prison, followed by an undetermined amount of community control time.

Long pleaded guilty to theft in 2024, was sentenced to three years of community control, and, like Burton, absconded from the jurisdiction of the court in Aug. 2024. His probation was revoked in December.

Norton received six months in prison for a 2022 breaking and entering conviction, followed by two years of community control. He was twice denied early release motions in the common pleas court.

According to its website, the correctional facility is a minimum security “prison diversion program for adult male offenders.” A spokesperson for the facility said the escape is being investigated by the sheriff’s office and the facility’s internal administrative investigation.

There is no further information available at this time as county officials have yet to comment on the incident.