St. Petersburg police: Man back in jail after escaping work release center

ST. PETERSBURG — Police say a prisoner escaped from a state work release center Saturday night and was caught Monday morning.

John Paul Kaafi, 28, was charged with escaping from lawful custody after he left a Florida Department of Corrections work release center at 4237 Eighth Ave. S, according to an arrest affidavit.

Kaafi escaped after he was caught urinating on the side of a building at the work release center after 8 p.m., according to the affidavit. An officer at the center told Kaafi to go inside, and Kaafi then ran up and down some stairs multiple times before jumping over a fence and taking off, according to a Department of Corrections official.

Kaafi was caught at 1:55 a.m. by St. Petersburg police and taken to the Pinellas County Jail. He was sentenced in 2007 to four years in prison for aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and fleeing to elude law enforcement, Department of Corrections records show.