Mugshots Show Before And After Minnesota Prison Inmate’s Escape: Police

COHASSET, MN — Two booking photos released by law enforcement show a stark before-and-after look at the Minnesota inmate whose September escape triggered a two-week manhunt across the Iron Range.

Michael Todd Hart, 40, escaped from the Northeast Regional Corrections Center (NERCC) in Saginaw on Sept. 23, according to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office. He was recaptured on Oct. 7 after officers found him hiding under a stairwell in the basement of a home in Cohasset.

Around 11:30 a.m., members of the Lake Superior Violent Offenders Task Force, along with the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, Itasca County Sheriff’s Office, and the Aitkin Itasca Mille Lacs Violent Crime Enforcement Team, executed a search warrant at a residence on Northwest 8th Avenue.

Investigators said Hart refused to surrender, and officers deployed pepper ball rounds before taking him into custody.

Authorities said Hart remained uncooperative and assaulted deputies after being handcuffed.

Another person, Devon Michelle Shackelton, 29, was arrested for aiding an offender. Both were booked into the Itasca County Jail.

Law enforcement had been searching for Hart since his September escape, when he was last seen heading north from NERCC wearing a yellow sweatshirt, gray T-shirt, and blue pants.

The search spanned several days and involved drones, four K9 teams, and a Minnesota State Patrol aircraft combing heavily wooded terrain in St. Louis County.

Officials said the investigation was complicated by delays in witness reporting and difficult swampy terrain but ultimately led to Hart’s arrest in Cohasset.