A state inmate walks away from work release in Harlan County. It happened days ago, but neighbors said they found out the prisoner ran away - days after the fact!

Stoney Cloud's rap sheet is rather lengthy, with a bevy of charges ranging from disorderly conduct, to theft, and public intoxication.

He was serving a state sentence at the Harlan County Detention Center for receiving stolen property.

Cloud was working August 9th, supervised by jail staff, at a county-owned building in Coldiron.

"They ate lunch and did a head count, and he was there then. They went to do their head count again; he wasn't there when they were coming back to the facility," said B.J. Burkhart, Captain, Harlan County Detention Center.

Jail officials notified the state the next day. But neighbors said they had to find out through the grapevine.

"A friend of my sister's told her about it," said Janet Nolan, who lives in the area, "I didn't think a whole lot about it. I wish that we'd known about it, that we'd been told."

A spokesperson for the Kentucky Department of Corrections tells Mountain News the jail reported the escapee to them promptly.

But they would not comment regarding the time frame in which the public was notified.

"The jailer and two of our staff, they were up in the mountains until five or six o'clock in the morning," said Burkhart.

Officials believe Cloud is still hiding out among the clouds.

Jailer Curtis Stallard declined our request for an on-camera interview. But he did say he notified the county's dispatch when this happened.

Jail officials do not believe Cloud poses an immediate threat.

Kentucky Revised Statutes say a jail should have a procedure in place for passing along information about the jail to the public, other government agencies, and the media.