NATCHEZ – Two inmates who escaped from Angola State Peniteniary Wednesday morning – a pair that also escaped from the facility 20 years ago – were captured Wednesday afternoon in Natchez by police, authorities said.

The men, who were both originally from Texas, were identified as Phillip Schane, 40, who was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder from Iberville Parish, La., and Lefty Valverde, 53, who was serving 99 years for armed robbery from Jefferson Parish.

The men allegedly escaped from the prison aboard a cotton truck just after the 11 a.m. prisoner count. The two jumped off the truck at a cotton gin in the Anna community of Adams County and caught a ride back into Natchez.

An Adams County resident who works at Angola, but whose name was not available Wednesday, saw the two jump from the cotton truck and called police with a description of the vehicle that gave them a ride back into town.

The vehicle was stopped on Lynda Lee Drive near Central Alternative School by three police detectives and three other officers, one of whom was accompanied by a police dog.

See Thursday’s edition of The Natchez Democrat for more on this story.