SOMERS, Conn. — A Connecticut prison inmate believed to have escaped by clinging to the undercarriage of a vehicle as it left prison grounds has been ordered held on a $500,000 bond.

Jerry Mercado faced escape-related charges in court Monday. The Hartford Courant reports prosecutors wanted a $1 million bond because Mercado was charged with escaping a correctional institution, while Mercado's attorney said his client couldn't pay a high bond and was "not a flight risk."

The 25-year-old man was returned to Connecticut Friday from Georgia, where he'd been held since being apprehended Jan. 17. Officials say he initially fought extradition, but later waived that right.

Mercado escaped from the Carl Robinson Correctional Institution in Enfield Jan. 7. He was serving three years for burglary.

He's now at the high-security Northern Correctional Institution in Somers.