Soldier-inmate gets more than 2 years added to sentence for attempted escape from prison

A Special Forces soldier turned inmate tacked more than two years onto his sentence for attempting to escape from the prison at Fort Leavenworth, according to the results of a court-martial held last week at the Kansas base.

Mason Wollersheim pleaded guilty July 21 to attempted escape from confinement, attempted escape from custody and resisting apprehension, according to online court records. Military Judge Col. Larry Babin Jr. sentenced him to confinement for 28 months and a bad-conduct discharge. The inmate was acquitted of conspiracy and assault of law enforcement.

Wollersheim, along with fellow prisoner Zachary Harader, attempted to escape from the Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility on April 29, 2025, and both were apprehended by corrections personnel.

Harader pleaded guilty in January and added nine months to his sentence. At the time, he was about one year into a 33-month sentence for domestic violence.

Wollersheim, who was injured during the escape when he got tangled in the concertina wire along the perimeter fencing, was about three months into a 28-month sentence for broadcasting an indecent recording, attempted larceny, wire fraud and larceny. Before his initial conviction, he was a staff sergeant assigned to 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Carson, Colo.

The Army’s Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility houses military prisoners sentenced to fewer than 10 years of confinement, according to the service. It has six housing units with a total capacity of 464 inmates.

The facility is adjacent to the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, the military’s only maximum-security prison.