TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas prison officials have removed all inmates housed at a county jail after four escaped, including a convicted murderer who remains at large.

Department of Corrections spokesman Jeremy Barclay says the 18 inmates who were being held at the Ottawa County Jail because of state prison overcrowding have been returned to a state facility in Ellsworth.

Barclay says the temporary decision was made after four inmates escaped Wednesday morning from the jail in Minneapolis, a town about 120 miles west of Topeka.

Two of those men, including a convicted killer, are still missing Thursday.

Barclay says the move is temporary as the department investigates the escape and reassesses placing inmates in the jail.

Kansas allows some county jails to house prison inmates under state contracts to help alleviate prison overcrowding.