A prisoner who escaped from federal custody in El Paso in 1997 was arrested Wednesday at a McAllen hospital, federal court records show.

Primitivo Doria escaped while on a work detail at Fort Bliss in El Paso on the morning of Aug. 6, 1997, according to a criminal complaint against him.

According to the complaint, Doria was serving a 151-month-long sentence after he was convicted of federal drug charges in Georgia. He had been in custody for four years when he escaped.

Doria, who is now 75-year-old, was arrested at Rio Grande Regional Hospital in McAllen, according to a warrant. 

Details as to how Doria was found or why he was hospitalized weren’t available. 

Federal court records show Doria remains in custody and will appear in federal court in McAllen on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025.