An adoptive mother is pleading with an escaped inmate to turn himself in.

Cheryl Braham tells KSL (http://bit.ly/NGSwOm ) that the man who broke out of a Vernal jail had an abusive mother and turned to a life of crime at an early age.

Authorities continued to search Friday for Jason Max Braham, who escaped with another 21-year-old inmate after taking apart an industrial-sized laundry vent at the Uintah County Jail.

Braham and Dallas Ephraim Derrick were both serving time for convictions on theft and burglary charges. They turned up missing for a 2 a.m. Wednesday bed check.

Undersheriff John Laursen believes the men are long gone from eastern Utah. Laursen says the inmates may have stolen a GMC Yukon from a nearby residence - the owner left the keys and a full tank of gas in the SUV.