A Lincoln County Jail inmate is back behind bars after brieflyescaping from the facility’s recreational area Monday afternoon,said Sheriff Lynn Boyte.

Boyte said John Mayberry, who was brought to jail earlier Mondayon a city warrant for failure to appear in court, escaped byclimbing a pole in the smoking area and getting through a loosesection of fencing at the top of a 20-foot high wall. The sheriffsaid the man had been left unattended in the break yard after ajailer was called away to assist with a citizen’semployment-related background check and fingerprinting.

“It took him about 15 seconds to climb the pole, and he wasgone,” Boyte said about the approximately 2:40 p.m. incident.

Mayberry, 22, of 401 Vivian Merritt St., was picked up at hisresidence a short while later. He was back in jail shortly after 5p.m.

“I’m sorry about all the trouble. I just wanted to go see mywife,” Mayberry said as authorities questioned him about theincident.

Boyte mentioned some incidents where inmates had walked or runaway from authorities while being transported to and from courtappearances. However, Monday’s incident was the first in whichsomeone got out of the facility.

Boyte was in the process of getting the recreation area fencefixed. He hoped to have that done early Tuesday.

“We can’t put any of the inmates out there until we get thatfence reinforced,” Boyte said.

Boyte said “no harm was done,” and Mayberry would not be chargedwith escape related to the Monday incident. While embarrassing,Boyte indicated the escape pointed out a weakness that, oncecorrected, would lead to improved jail security.

“This may be a blessing in disguise,” Boyte said.