<p class="p1">A female inmate led law enforcement on a high-speed chase Tuesday after stealing an officer’s car left running outside the Calcasieu Correctional Center, officials said.</p><p class="p1">Inmate Ashley J. Grundmann, 36, was being escorted to the jail around 7:30 a.m. by Calcasieu sheriff’s officers for 72-hour court when she managed to break one hand free of her shackles and jump into the car, said agency spokeswoman Kim Myers. </p><p class="p1">She fled from U.S. 171 in Lake Charles into Beauregard Parish, where she eventually stopped the car and was taken into custody after a half-hour chase, Myers said.</p><p class="p1">The car belonged to the local probation and parole office of the state correction’s department, said Leland Hughes, supervisor of the Lake Charles District Office. It had been driven to the jail by officers transporting two people arrested in a warrant sweep that morning.</p><p class="p1">Hughes said it was “actually amazing” that officers were able to catch her within a half hour after putting a call out on radio and trailing her to Beauregard. </p><p class="p1">Grundmann had been incarcerated since March 15 when sheriff’s deputies arrested her on multiple drug charges. She will now be charged with simple escape; theft of a motor vehicle; and aggravated flight from an officer.</p>