An inmate who fled the Stanislaus County Honor Farm near Grayson while two jail barracks were afire Saturday evening, June 26 — and then turned himself in the next day — has been charged with a felony and booked into Stanislaus County Jail in Modesto to await trial.

Richard Allen Ivy was on the lam for about 20 hours before resurfacing. He reportedly escaped to freedom by jumping a fence in the tumult caused by a fire that started in a bathroom connecting two housing barracks. A subsequent search by Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Deputies turned up no sign of Ivy.

At about 2 p.m. Sunday, June 26, though, Ivy showed up at the county jail. He was soon booked and charged with a felony for the escape. His bail is set at $50,000.

Ivy, 35, has a history of run-ins with the law going back to at least 1998, according to public court records. He was serving time at the minimum-security jail for violating his probation earlier this year and was due out in September, after being charged with felonies related to a burglary.

The fire resulted in the complete loss of one building, containing two barracks that housed the jail’s inmates. Patterson and West Stanislaus Fire Division Chief Jeff Gregory said the fire took hold quickly, and after the roof collapsed, firefighters realized the blaze was too much to contain.

“Everything is made of cinderblock. So we pulled everyone out and let it go,” Gregory said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but officials at the sheriff’s department said it might have been the result of an electrical problem.

All 86 inmates at the Honor Farm were displaced by the fire, which consumed their living quarters. They were moved into the two remaining unoccupied barracks.

County supervisors voted in April to shut down three out of four barracks, citing county budget constraints. The jail opened in 1967.

According to Gregory, the fire injured no one.

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