CRESCENT CITY – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials are searching for an incarcerated person who walked away from the minimum-support facility at Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) on Friday, July 18, 2025.
At approximately 11:50 p.m. officials were alerted that incarcerated person Jamie R. Watson was reported missing from PBSB. The emergency count conducted confirmed that Watson was missing. Notification was immediately made to local law enforcement agencies. CDCR’s Office of Correctional Safety and local law enforcement agencies have been notified and are assisting in the search.
Watson, 40, was last seen wearing orange jacket and blue jeans. He is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 187 pounds. He has hazel eyes and brown hair.
Watson was most recently received from Siskiyou County on Feb. 5, 2024, for a parole violation for possession of controlled substance.
Anyone who sees Watson or has any knowledge of his whereabouts should immediately contact law enforcement, call 911 or contact Special Agent F. Mata at 415-214-0946.
A minimum-support facility houses non-violent offenders outside of the secure perimeter of the main institution in a dorm environment, and a Firehouse with eight full time incarcerated firefighters.
Activated in 1989, PBSP houses approximately 2045, minimum-, medium-, high- and maximum-security custody incarcerated people. Located 13 miles from the Oregon-California border, PBSP offers academic classes, vocational programs, rehabilitative programs, medical services, mental health services, religious services, work assignments and self-help groups, and employs approximately 1,400 people.
Since 1977, 99 percent of all offenders who have left an adult institution, camp or community-based program without permission have been apprehended.
Jamie R. Watson
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 19, 2025
CONTACT OPEC: OPEC@cdcr.ca.gov
