Bayport police were leading a St. Croix River Valley search Friday for a 40-year-old inmate who escaped from a work crew outside Stillwater prison.

Patrick James Buswell walked away from a minimum-security crew about 10 a.m. while on assignment outside the 101-year-old correctional center in Bayport.

Police Chief Laura Eastman said the search initially involved a State Patrol helicopter and area law enforcement agencies that set up a perimeter. Bayport police will continue to inspect abandoned buildings and houses that residents had left unlocked, she said.

Buswell, who is serving a five-year sentence for a weapons offense, has been on minimum custody at the prison since February. He is described as 5 foot 6, 205 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

He was convicted in Anoka County last fall of two felonies, a firearms violation and fleeing a police officer, according to state court records, and was being held in the prison's Level 2 minimum-security unit.

Anyone who thinks they have seen Buswell or has information of his whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the Department of Corrections' Fugitive Tip Line at 651-603-0026.

Kevin Giles