PHOENIX -- The Pentagon on Friday ordered an AWOL Army soldier housed at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Tent City be removed back to military custody.

READ: 9/25/07 - AWOL Soldiers Serving Sentences At Tent City

Spokeswoman Lisa Allen said the prisoner from the Army's Fort Huachuca in southern Arizona was handed over Friday afternoon.

Army Private Lance Thompson, 18, went AWOL in March. After turning himself in five months later, Fort Huachuca commanders arranged for Thompson to serve his time at Arapio's outdoor installation.

"I think they want to review the program," Arpaio said.

"The unit felt that he had sufficient deterrent and that he had rehabilitated," Fort Huachuca spokesman Maj. Matt Garner said in Sierra Vista.

Garner said the soldier was to be back at the fort by Friday evening "where he will remain for five days' restriction, and the unit will determine whether he is worthy of staying in the unit."

Thompson is a member of the 305th Military Intelligence Battalion.

Arpaio announced earlier this week that he had agreed to take prisoners serving sentences for being AWOL at the jail, which houses prisoners in old Army tents.

Officials at Fort Huachuca had said they hoped the soldiers' experiences in Tent City would be close to the living accommodations of soldiers in Iraq.

On Tuesday, Arpaio led commanders on a tour of the outdoor jail to show them he had plenty of room.