Yesterday, a prison break by a man at the Mat-Su Pretrial facility in Palmer pushed the Mat-Su School District to go into a safety lock down mode, where school doors were locked but school was to go as normal.
Troopers released a description of the 44-year old man, but didn’t release a photo or his name until mid afternoon, just before he was caught and taken back into custody.
Kent Charles Matte escaped right after morning exercise through a hole in the fence. He appeared to have unwoven strands of the fencing then jumped the other security fence. He had about 6 hours of freedom before troopers caught him near the Parks Highway in Wasilla.
He has had a string of convictions both in Alaska and in Idaho. Most recently he was accused of burglary and drug possession.
He was taken back into custody yesterday at about 2:30 pm.
