A dangerous inmate suspected of murdering a corrections officer he sexually assaulted before he broke out of a Tennessee prison was arrested on Sunday on the fifth day of a massive manhunt.

“CAPTURED!” the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations (TBI) tweeted alongside a photo of a grim-faced Curtis Ray Watson in the back of a squad car.

The 44-year-old convicted kidnapper was only discovered missing from his work assignment at West Tennessee State Prison after Department of Corrections administrator Debra Johnson, 64, was found dead in her home on prison grounds Wednesday morning.

Johnson, a 38-year veteran, had been sexually assaulted and a cord was wrapped around her neck, officials said, with the medical examiner declaring it a homicide by strangulation.

Watson had been seen at her Henning home earlier and fled the prison on a tractor, officials said, as warrants were secured for first-degree murder, especially aggravated burglary, and aggravated sexual battery.

Calling him “extremely dangerous,” the TBI issued a top-level statewide blue alert, only the third issued since the program was launched in 2011.

By the early hours of Sunday, the hunt honed-in on an area in Henning after Watson was spotted on surveillance cameras by a local there wearing overalls and a hat and with a backpack.

“Residents in the area should be ALERT and VIGILANT,” the Department of Corrections tweeted alongside stills and video of the sighting.

By early afternoon, authorities confirmed his capture, also releasing a video of him being placed in a squad car, as well as photos of him in custody. No further details were given.

Watson — previously convicted of aggravated child abuse — had been serving 15 years for what the TBI called an “especially aggravated kidnapping.”

“Tremendous news that this fugitive is back in custody,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said on Twitter.

With Post wires