Pearl,Esthen Exchange Miss. — A Mississippi man was sentenced Monday to 40 years in state prison for breaking out of a correctional facility and holding three people at gunpoint last year, just months before he was to have completed a seven-year sentence.

Shunekndrick Huffman, 21, pleaded guilty to two counts of kidnapping and a circuit court judge sentenced him to 40 years in state prison, Rankin County District Attorney Bubba Bramlett said Monday.

Huffman, who escaped from the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in August 2022, had nearly completed a seven-year sentence for aggravated assault with an expected release date in December of that year.

Investigators said that Huffman fled and broke into a nearby house, holding the homeowner and two daughters at gunpoint for hours,  CBS Jackson, Miss. affiliate WJTV reports. They said Huffman then stole one of the hostages' cars before wrecking it and running toward the nearby Mississippi State Hospital campus.

Huffman was arrested after being found hiding inside a trash can near one of the campus homes, WJTV says.

Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain told WLBT-TV the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility would improve its siren system to prevent future escapes.

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• Mississippi