A convict with a violent past who escaped Laurel Regional Hospital before leading police on an hours-long chase that ended in his death in a shootout has forced Maryland officials to review their policies for hospitalizing inmates.

Kelvin Poke, 45, escaped from the hospital Wednesday after overpowering four officers and taking two of their guns. He fled the scene after carjacking a Toyota idling outside the hospital and shooting its driver. His ill-fated odyssey ended seven hours later when he was killed by an officer’s bullet in Cedar Hill Cemetery about 20 miles from where the mayhem began.

Poke was serving life plus 40 years in the Jessup correctional facility in Anne Arundel County on kidnapping, carjacking and burglary charges since October 2005, according to the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Poke was admitted to the hospital Tuesday after complaining of chest pains, Maryland State Police spokesman Greg Shipley said. He was not handcuffed when he overpowered the officers and grabbed a security guard as a hostage. He escaped with one of the officers’ .38-caliber service revolvers, which Shipley said he likely used to shoot the shackles from his ankles.

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Poke released the guard as he exited the hospital, but then shot a 51-year-old man driving a 1993 Toyota Camry in the head before pulling him from the car and taking off in the vehicle.

The victim, who has not been identified, is expected to live, Shipley said.

Poke headed for the District of Columbia where Metropolitan Police reported that Poke torched the Toyota on the 1100 block of First Street NW and carjacked a white Ford Explorer Sport Trac, owned by the D.C. government.

After taking the Ford, Poke headed back to Prince George’s County, Police Officer Henry Tippett said. As Poke approached Suitland, police were able to corner him in the cemetery. But as they closed in, they saw an unidentified woman in the vehicle with him.

It was not clear whether the woman, who has not been identified, was a carjacking victim, or an accomplice. She was not injured, Tippett said.

“We don’t know what part she played in this,” Tippett said.

Unlike other hospitals, where prisoners are kept in a secured wing, there is no extra security in place at Laurel, officials said. At least one officer tasked with watching Poke carried a weapon and was supposed to keep him in his sight at all times.

“He was watching him,” Department of Public Safety spokesman Mark Vernarelli said. “There was no reason to believe he wasn’t.”

Officials said an investigation into the circumstances of the shooting and policies is under way.

cmabeus@dcexaminer.com

fklopott@dcexaminer.com