Allan Moorefield, a prisoner serving a sentence for third-degree murder, burglary, theft and criminal conspiracy, was permitted to leave prison 10 times and always returned without incident -- until early August.

Trooper William F. Madden of the Rockview state police said Moorefield left the State Correctional Institution at Rockview Aug. 6 to visit his mother's home in Pittsburgh and never returned. Madden said Moorefield is probably still in the Pittsburgh area.

Sam Mazzotta, corrections superintendent's assistant at Rockview, said all prisoners are eligible to take a furlough after serving half of their minimum sentence. The furlough program is intended to reacquaint prisoners with their family and community and allow them to look for jobs, Mazzotta said.

In order to qualify, prisoners must meet several requirements that are evaluated by prison staff as well as administrators, he said.

"Evidently (Moorefield) made enough of an impression that people trusted him," Mazzotta said.

Mazzotta said he could not guess why Moorefield did not return because he was reasonably close to completing his minimum sentence of 8 years. "We don't know how these people actually think," he said.

Mazzotta said prison administrators have had few problems with prisoners not returning in the past and said he does not expect any change in policy.

"Because of one incident, you can't ditch the whole program," Mazzotta said.

Madden said he was not in the position to debate the merits of the furlough program.

"What the public is concerned with is that there is a murderer on the loose," he said.