Two state prisoners who escaped police custody from the San

Joaquin County Superior Court in Stockton on Tuesday afternoon were caught the same

day, Stockton police said.

Tony Jones, 21, was in Stockton for a court appearance with

two other prisoners, Richard Potts, 39, and Kirk Robbins, 22. All men are

inmates at Tracy’s Deuel Vocational Institution.

Last year, Jones was sentenced to three years behind bars

after being arrested in Alameda County for assault with a deadly weapon,

carjacking and grand theft.

Potts awaits trial for the killing and rape of an 18-year-old

Stockton girl, which would land him a life sentence. Tuesday, police arrested

him on suspicion of assault, carjacking and kidnapping after his brief escape, police said.

Robbins faked a seizure to distract prison guards, and then

the two other men slipped out of their handcuffs and took off running in their

orange jumpsuits, police said.

Jones ran further into downtown and hopped into a black

late-model Mercedes-Benz that had a temporary license plate labeled “Eaton,”

the statement said.

Police caught Potts after a passing motorcyclist purposely

plowed into the inmate, just as he was punching a Stockton woman in the face

and trying to wrestle her out of her car near the courthouse.

Jones made it to his grandmother’s Richmond house, where

police caught him three hours later.

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