Kingman escapee McClusky gets life for Haas' killings; sister forgives.

John McClusky escaped the death penalty this week in New Mexico for the Haas' killing, when he was on escape from Kingman prison in the summer of 2010. I was saddened to hear that his accomplice Cassie Welch will likely die in prison for this; I corresponded with her and believe she is truly remorseful and never expected McClusky to kill people once free. While in jail in Mohave County she never complained to me about her own circumstances or conditions of confinement - she only expressed concern for other women there. I'm posting this account of McClusky's sentencing, though, because I was heartened that the sister of one of the victims here forgave them. That doesn't happen often. It will make no difference to McClusky, but I'm sending this to Cassie - it will matter to her, I think.

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Victim’s sister forgives killers

Albuquerque Journal

By Scott Sandlin / Journal Staff Writer
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 3, 2014 at 10:23 pm
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, June 3, 2014 at 1:27 pm 
 

If there was anything remarkable about the Tuesday sentencing of a double murderer whose fate was already known – life in federal prison with no chance of release – it was the words of forgiveness from one victim’s sister.

Sandra Morgan made it clear that she cannot forget her older sister Linda Haas or her brother-in-law Gary Haas, victims of the tall skinny guy in a bright yellow state jumpsuit at the defense table.

McCLUSKEY

The sudden decision by John Charles McCluskey, 48, on a hot summer day sent dozens of lives into a whirlwind. McCluskey, a prison escapee from Arizona, burned up their camper-trailer with their bodies in it – the one he’d carjacked only a few hours earlier – and went on a zigzag cross-country trip before finally being arrested at an Arizona campground three weeks later.

“How do you wake up each day with pain?” Morgan asked. “Sure, there’s counseling.” But memories come unbidden, she said, triggered by a song, a gesture, a photo.

Morgan said the hardest thing for her to overcome is the thought of how they spent their final day at the start of an annual camping/fishing trip to Colorado where they would meet with old friends, enjoy the scenery and take in the blessings of retirement before being carjacked at gunpoint and shot in rural eastern New Mexico.

The Haases’ daughter had such difficulties with the deaths that she “spiraled out of control,” and Morgan is now the guardian of the Haases’ grandson, born after the murders.

Morgan said that in the three years and 10 months she has had to think and learn about the awful events of August 2010, one word kept popping up in her mind: forgiveness.

After much thought and prayer, she said her deep Christian faith led her to a point where she has forgiven McCluskey, Tracy Province and Casslyn Welch, the trio responsible for the murders.

“I have no choice,” she said.

Province on Monday was given a life sentence, and Welch was given 40 years in prison.

Gary Haas’ sister, Linda Rook, and Erma Patrick, an aunt to the murdered couple, also spoke at McCluskey’s sentencing.

Patrick showed a photo of a memorial headstone for them, with a commemorative plaque acknowledging Gary Haas’ military service in Vietnam. She told McCluskey that although the legal case is over, it is not over for the family.

“We must deal with the loss for the rest of our lives,” she said.

Rook faced McCluskey defiantly, telling him about the invisible blows struck against her and Gary’s mother, who now cries daily although Rook only saw her cry once, ever, before that.

McCluskey was appropriately dressed in yellow, she said, the color of a coward who abused women to bend them to his will.

“What kind of man are you? I’ll answer. You are a disgrace to your mother, to your family, to society and to the human race,” she said.

McCluskey’s sole word to U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera was a curt “No” when she asked if he wished to speak.

The defense called no witnesses, and Herrera sentenced him to pay $3,820 in restitution to the Patricks.

For the 20 counts of the indictment on which he was convicted, she sentenced him to life plus 2,820 months in prison.

“If it weren’t for three votes on the jury, you’d be facing death today,” she said, referring to the lack of unanimity required for a federal sentence of death. She cautioned him not to take too much comfort in that.

Casslyn Welch: Pleading guilt v. taking responsibility.

Below is the Washington Post's coverage of Casslyn Welch's guilty plea for her role in this summer's Kingman Prison escape, along with the comment left at the end by private prison expert, Frank Smith. He's right on the money about the whole bungled affair (and reporting - don't take this article at face value). And really, though she may not have intended things to unfold as they did, for her part Cassie should have foreseen the probability of violence and injury to someone as a result of her actions, given who she helped spring.


That said, I should add that Cassie's articulated that she accepts responsibility for the hurt and grief she's caused, regretting that it can't be undone. That will probably get me hate mail for saying, because of how profound that injury is, but I think the government put out sufficient propaganda compromising her due process from day one of the escape by sensationalizing the extent of an Aryan Brotherhood connection with Charlie, and their supposed romance-between-first-cousins, that I'm not giving her an undue PR advantage. The worse she looks, the better ADC Director Chuck Ryan looks - he can divert attention from the fact that he let Kingman prison get so bad on his watch.


Cassie didn't initiate the contact with me, anyway, or ask me to print anything on her behalf. She was writing in response to my letter to her expressing concerns that I'd heard she wasn't getting her mail. I observed that it also appeared as if she wasn't getting as vigorous a defense as the US Constitution requires, but it turns out that she just doesn't want to put up a fight. I actually gave her an open door, a loaded cannon, and the ACLU's address to lodge a complaint about the conditions of her confinement or the quality of her defense, if she wanted to, but she politely declined any help, and is planning to quietly do her time; I expect to see a guilty plea in New Mexico, too.


This woman wasn't offering her remorse for media consumption, nor do I want to contribute to the frenzy - and glamour - around this case. My bet is she'd rather I leave it alone, frankly. I think she honestly feels she can't justify that what she did led to the murders of the Haas couple, and is ashamed that anyone tries to defend her; it's as if arguing for a "fair" trial seems inappropriate to her.


A few days after writing me back saying she didn't need my help, though, Cassie took the time and postage to refer another prisoner to me - a young woman who's actually facing even worse trouble for the actions of an abusive partner...I'll probably be posting on that soon. That was right before she entered this plea below.

So, thanks for looking out for the others there, Cassie. There will be more women in need along the path you've taken, so take care of yourself; you owe the community and grieving families your service, at the least, anyway. There are people who have lost their loved ones in prison recently, due to violence or neglect, who will appreciate what you did for the most reviled mother in this state - as will the families of our prisoners who are still living. You'll have your hands full if you plan to help other women like her in prison - let me know if you think I can help.

That goes for the rest of you in there, too. Cassie stood up for a woman accused of a pretty hideous crime, inviting further animosity from the public and prosecutors at potential risk to herself. That lack of self-interest tells me she's probably sincere.


Don't mistake your plea of guilt for taking responsibility for having harmed others, if you have, folks: let go of the pettiness of prison's minor inconveniences, and do something to help someone else in greater need - including stepping in the line of fire in a losing battle, if it's the right side, and in some cases defending your own rights yourself. In prison, if you don't fight back against the oppression, chances are you'll die waiting for someone who will. How far we advance human rights in the prisons in the next few years will depend a lot more on prisoners like Cassie Welch taking risks than on agitation by free women like me...

So, if you really want to fight power, prisoners,
don't just take a swing, run away, or tell them where to go -
grieve it it right, and write to me instead.

Peggy Plews

Arizona Prison Watch

PO Box 20494

Phoenix, AZ 85036

prisonabolitionist@gmail.com

---------------------------------

Woman accused of aiding inmate trio escape, NM couple’s deaths pleads guilty to Ariz. charges

Washington Post
April 12, 2011
AP: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/woman-accused-of-aiding-inmate-trio-escape-nm-couples-deaths-pleads-guilty-to-ariz-charges/2011/04/12/AFFPY2RD_story.html#weighIn

By Associated Press, Tuesday, April 12

KINGMAN, Ariz. — The cousin of an Arizona inmate pleaded guilty Tuesday to state charges of helping him and two other men flee a state prison, but she still faces federal charges in the deaths of an Oklahoma couple who authorities say were killed during the escapees’ run from the law.

Casslyn Welch, 44, entered her plea before Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steven Conn, who said he would sentence her after she resolves the pending federal charges. The judge ordered the sentence to be served concurrently with any federal sentence if Welch is convicted.

Under a plea agreement with Arizona prosecutors, Welch will receive 20 years in prison on an escape charge and two counts of armed robbery. Prosecutors agreed to drop kidnapping and aggravated assault charges stemming from the prison break last July, and also dismissed six drug charges in a separate case.

“That’s a good resolution,” said prosecutor Victoria Stazio.

Welch’s attorney declined to comment following the hearing.

Welch is charged in New Mexico on federal carjacking and murder counts relating to the deaths of the couple, whose remains were found in New Mexico. Welch was expected to be transported to that state, where she has an initial hearing Monday in Albuquerque.

Welch previously pleaded not guilty to the Arizona charges from the escape, which sparked a nationwide manhunt. On Tuesday, she acknowledged throwing cutting tools onto the grounds of the medium-security prison near Kingman, which allowed John McCluskey, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick to break through a perimeter fence and flee into the desert.

Welch, who is McCluskey’s fiancée and cousin, also admitted to supplying them with guns and money, and Renwick with a get-away vehicle.

Province, McCluskey and Welch found themselves without transportation and hijacked a semi-truck at gunpoint near Kingman, forcing the drivers to take them to Flagstaff. Prosecutors say the three also targeted Gary and Linda Haas, of Tecumseh, Okla., at a rest stop in New Mexico for the couple’s camping trailer. The Haases were taken to a remote ranch where they were shot.

Renwick was captured first after a police shootout in western Colorado, followed by Province. Welch and McCluskey were arrested later at an eastern Arizona campsite.

Welch and Province have pleaded guilty to armed robbery. Neither is listed as witnesses in the Arizona trial of McCluskey, who has pleaded not guilty.

Welch’s drug charges arose from a prison visit last June. Authorities said she lost her visitation rights, but not her phone privileges, when a vehicle search turned up marijuana, heroin and drug paraphernalia.

Welch wasn’t immediately jailed after the search because sheriff’s officials said she agreed to be a drug informant. She was charged following the prison escape with six counts of narcotics violations.

Province was sentenced to more than 38 years on the escape charges, but a judge acknowledged it meant little because Province already was serving a life sentence for prior crimes.

Renwick, who was serving time in Arizona for murder, faces three counts of attempted murder in Colorado.

(Here's the real story...)

fsmith3 wrote:

"The prison corporation, the prison builder and the state of Arizona are being sued by the bereaved family of the Oklahoma victims, for $40 million.·

How can the reporter fail to mention that this escape was from a for-profit prison, operated by Management and Training Corporation of Salt Lake City, Utah?

After the escape, the MTC founder, Bob Marquardt, claimed that this was the corporation's "first major glitch."

Apparently the dozen or more prior escapes they'd experienced, the frequent riots and murders, don't count as "major glitches." Anyone who cares to can watch the YouTube video of two of those murders during a riot at an MTC California prison.

Google: Eagle Mountain/Private Prison Riot gone bad

The AP reporter in this case has chronically repeated mistakes of fact.

This couple was not "taken to a remote ranch and shot." They were shot in their trailer alongside I-44. When the carjackers drove their truck and camper to a filling station they realized blood was running out the door, so they drove to Santa Rosa, NM, then on to rural Colonias, 25 miles north. On a remote ranch, the trailer was detached from their pickup, doused with alcohol, and their remains were cremated inside the trailer after their dogs were freed and watered.

The escapees and their accomplice, Welch, did not "force the drivers to take them to Flagstaff." Welch and McCluskey drove the semi themselves. They voted on whether or not to kill the east Indian drivers, and Welch and Province spared their lives.

The real story is prodigious incompetence, which the AP reporter, Felicia Fonseca, somehow avoids.

The killers never should have been moved to the cracker box Kingman for-profit prison in the first place. They were clearly incapable of handling such security risks. Two were lifers, the third had two fifteen year sentences and a Pennsylvania parole hold. At least two were white supremacists, "security threat group" members who were again well beyond the capacity of the high turnover, poorly trained, paid and chosen staff to manage.

The state also ignored the blatant malfunctioning of the alarm system which never worked well and hadn't been repaired in years. The state's monitors ignored such obvious problems, it's hard to imagine that they were not doing exactly as they had been expected to do. The alarms, for instance, went off scores of times during the 16 hours before the escape, so the green employees ignored them.

The Governor has been trying to shift the blame to her predecessor and director of corrections who preceded her appointee. That simply won't wash. She has taken substantial campaign funding and support from the prison industry which explains the failures of oversight.

The for-profit staff couldn't count properly, so didn't know the escapees were gone for about 2 1/2 hours, were still unable to identify the fugitives, gave inadequate notice to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office and finally delayed notice to the state Department of Corrections for another 80 minutes. The media may not have been alerted until 12 hours after the escape.

The Mohave Sheriff never should have released Welch. Her arrest was widely known, as was her release. Because of that, her cousin would have been quickly marked for a hit by her suppliers. He was almost forced to escape.

The pursuit was lackadaisical. Close relatives and friends of the escapees were not contacted until five days after the escape, in clear disregard of professional correctional policy. By then one had been captured in a Colorado shootout, the other three had gone to Texas, reversed direction to Billings, Montana, and finally the cousins went all the way to Pennsylvania before returning to Arizona."

Mohave County's Holiday Cheer for the Poor: New Jail.

Those of you in Mohave County know that the new jail is now open in Kingman, as about 350 prisoners were moved there yesterday. The Sheriff's website hasn't been updated with new visitation or a clear mail policy yet, so I called the information line this afternoon (928-753-0759).


KINGMAN
DANGER: KEEP OUT

(this is neither the new nor the old jail, by the way - just a well-placed word of warning to unsuspecting travelers and home-grown drug addicts who haven't found redemption yet: they have plenty of beds to put us up in now)


I always hate to see new jails and prisons built - especially at a time when so many people have been losing their homes and jobs and health care...those places are overwhelmingly filled with the poor. But the old one was in horrible shape, and posed a threat to the health and safety of prisoners and officers alike. It's just so sad to see such an enormous investmant made in plans for large numbrs of prisoners down the road, instead of expecting the region's kids to grow into high school and college classrooms and find homes that their incomes can afford.


Anyway, the officer I spoke to was quite pleasant and professional, but advised that visitation has been suspended for all prisoners, until further notice, due to the move. She suggested calling back on Wednesday or Thursday (December 15/16) to see if they had worked out a schedule yet. The officer I spoke to expressed hope, but not certainty, that visitation would resume before Christmas. The officer was unable to find the new jail's mailing address, but assured me that prisoner mail can still be sent to the old jail - at least for now.


That address is:
Mohave County Jail
415 Pine Street
Kingman, AZ 86401
Phone: 928-753-0759


Remember that you can only use standard store-bought postcards, write in black or blue ballpoint pen, no highlighter or felt tip markers, no stickers or crayons, and keep your conversation away from inflammatory, provocative, and (of course) criminal subjects. DOn't send stamps or cash, either. Be sure your name and return address is clearly visible, as well, and that you are using the legal name of the person you're writing to.


If you have legal documents you want to provide a prisoner, either suggest that they request the specific item from the jail law library, or pass the material on to their attorney to give to them. Actually, below is the notice I received from the jail in correspondence they returned when I tried to send information to John McCluskey about concern for his legal rights as a prisoner and defendant. There are quite a few rules that make frank correspondence difficult, and the limited visitation opportunities leaves prisoners extremely isolated and families feeling abandoned.


It would help if this kind of information was readily available on the jail's website, along with the inmate manual, so family and friends have a clue about their policies there. I'm learning to write long, open letters on postcards now, between the Mohave and Maricopa County Jails. Frankly, I think if they're going to strip-search our mail for contraband and forbid contact visits with prisoners, they should strip-search and sniff every single guard when they arrive for shift, too.

(you may have to click on this and download it, then print to read it -
sorry it's such a poor quality.)

MTC being sued by Haas Family for Murders

Private Prison Blamed for Two Murders

By JAMIE ROSS

Courthouse News

Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Last Update: 6:40 AM PT

PHOENIX (CN) - The Arizona prison breakout that led to the killing of two campers was caused by "lax procedures and incompetent management" of the private prison operator in Kingman, the mother of one of the victims says. Vivian Haas, whose son, Gary and his wife were shot to death, claims that Management and Training Corp. admitted in an Aug. 13 letter its responsibility for the escapes, and that the circumstances "were shocking and egregious."

Haas claims that one of the escaped inmates, John McCluskey, killed her son and his wife in New Mexico in the days after the escape. Haas says the private prison operator "had duties to protect the general public in employing proper incarceration policies and procedures to assure that violent offenders stayed locked up and away from the general public."

McCluskey was sentenced to 15 years in 2009 for attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault, and discharge of a firearm, and was sent to the private prison, according to the complaint. His fellow escapee Tracy Province was sentenced in 2009 for murder and robbery, and escapee Daniel Renwick was sentenced to two 22-year sentences for second-degree murder, the complaint states.

On July 30, McCluskey, Province, and Renwick escaped from the Kingman prison through a door wedged open by a rock, "climbing one improperly protected fence, hiding behind an inappropriate building in 'no-man's land,' and cutting through the wire of a second chain link fence," according to the complaint.

Haas says that Management and Training Corp.'s officers failed to check an alarm that sounded when the men cut through one of two security fences surrounding the prison. She says the alarm system set off false alarms so often that the guards ignored them.

Haas adds that the "perimeter fencing was substandard," and that patrols of the perimeter "were scattershot at best." Light poles around the prison were routinely burned out, and "intrusions by outsiders near the fence perimeters were common."

On Aug. 2, McCluskey and Province, allegedly with help from Casslyn M. Welch, "confronted" Gary and Linda Haas while they were "in or near their pickup truck towing a camping trailer." Gary and Linda Haas were traveling from Oklahoma to Colorado.

McCluskey and Province ordered Gary and Linda Haas into the truck, and forced Gary to drive to the west, his mother says. McCluskey directed Gary to leave the highway and drive to a secluded area, then took the couple into the camping trailer and "brutally shot them, killing each of them," Haas says.

McCluskey, Province, and Welch then allegedly drove the camper on the highway until they noticed blood leaking out of the trailer door. The escapees and accomplice "drove to a remote location, disconnected the trailer and intentionally set fire to the trailer with the bodies of Gary and Linda Haas still inside," according to the complaint.

Haas says the escapees abandoned the stolen truck in Albuquerque. Province was captured on Aug. 9 in Meeteetse, Wyo. McCluskey and Welch were captured on Aug. 19 in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.

On March 22, 2004, the Arizona Department of Corrections awarded a contract to Management and Training Corp. to operate the private prison which was "designed and constructed for 1,100 minimum security beds and 300 medium security beds to house DUI inmates," according to the complaint.

Haas seeks punitive damages for negligence and recklessness. She is represented by Christopher Zachar.

Haas' family files claim for killings by Kingman escapees.

For those of you who still think private prisons were a great way to save the state money, think again. Neither MTC nor Arizona can possibly fork over enough money to compensate this family for the brutal murders of their loved ones, but I'm glad they're taking it to court.

----------------------------

Arizona prison escape, killings prompt lawsuit

by JJ Hensley - Sept. 3, 2010 10:20 AM

The Arizona Republic

The first legal action in the Arizona prison breakout that led to the killing of two campers has been filed against the state and the operator of the private prison.

Vivian Haas, the mother of murder victim Gary Haas, filed a $10 million claim against Arizona and a wrongful death lawsuit against Management Training Corp., the company that operates the private prison near Kingman where three fugitives escaped on July 30.

The notice of claim is a required precursor to a lawsuit.

Police believe one of those escaped inmates, John McCluskey, murdered Gary Haas and his wife, Linda, near Santa Rosa, N.M. in the days following the escape as the fugitives grew weary of traveling in a car and targeted the Haas' for their camping trailer.

The escape led to a nationwide manhunt that stretched from Arizona to the Canada border.

The claim against Arizona notes the state's failure to maintain custody of the inmates, to properly train and supervise personnel at the prison and to promptly notify law enforcement officials in the area after the escape.

"I have conveyed my condolences to the Haas family and friends, however, I cannot comment on pending litigation," Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan said in a statement.

Management Training Corp. could not be immediately reached for comment.

Reviews of the July 30 incident have painted the picture of a prison where detention officers became lackadaisical and predictable in their movements and where equipment failures- including false alarms- were so common that they were frequently ignored.

Detention officers failed to check an alarm that sounded when McCluskey, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick cut through one of two security fences ringing the privately run prison near Kingman.

Investigators have said McCluskey's fiancée, Casslyn Welch, threw cutting tools over the fence to the men who snipped through chain link and barbed wire to flee into the desert.

It was more than two hours before staff at the private prison notified the state corrections officials of the escape.

By then, Renwick was making his way north to Colorado while McCluskey, Province and Welch were on their way to hijacking a truck near Kingman and forced the drivers to take them to Flagstaff.

Renwick was captured two days after the escape after he exchanged gunfire with police in Colorado.

After allegedly receiving help from relatives in Arizona, McCluskey, Province and Welch made their way east, ultimately ending up at a rest stop in New Mexico where, according to statements Province gave investigators, they saw 61-year-old Gary and Linda Haas, an Oklahoma couple taking an annual camping trip.

After days on the road in a cramped sedan, the fugitives decided to target travelers with a camping trailer and the Haas' fit the bill.

Province told investigators that he and McCluskey forced the couple into their truck at gunpoint while Welch followed behind. They all ended up in a remote area near Santa Rosa where McCluskey shot the Haas' in their trailer, according to court documents.

The fugitives set fire to the trailer in an effort to hide the evidence. A rancher discovered the burned trailer on Aug. 4.

The trio continued to evade authorities for days after the bodies were discovered.

Province was arrested in Wyoming on Aug. 9 and was carrying a backpack and 9mm gun, both of which he said were taken from the Haas'.

McCluskey and Welch were arrested in Apache County on Aug. 19.

Federal authorities last week filed murder charges against McCluskey, Welch and Province in New Mexico.

The three remain in a Mohave County jail on $1 million bond waiting to face charges there and ultimately extradition to New Mexico.

McCluskey & Welch captured in Apache County.

Here's the news we've been waiting for: at AZCentral.com. They were driving a car stolen from New Mexico, near where the bodies of the couple that was found murdered were burned. It looks like they just drove around the region then settled in right back here for awhile. The credit for their capture goes to an attentive forest ranger. He was just doing his job, but I sure hope he gets to collect that reward.

Please no more Bonnie and Clyde comparisons, by the way. It just glamorizes what they've done, which is an evil thing, if they indeed murdered the Haas'. They are both cowards and sociopaths, and should not be portrayed in any kind of admirable light.

Kingman Prison: What went wrong?

(FYI: McCluskey and Welch arrested 8/19/10 post)

So, here's the Arizona Republic's coverage of the Kingman prison security report. They only link to one section of it in that article, though, so here's the direct line to the ADC's cover sheet, which gives us a number of documents, including the security assessment, a 14-page corrective action plan, and an interesting 11-page CYA piece by the ADC, (also known as a "fact sheet" on the prison's history), explaining their prisoner classification and placement processes - noting pointedly when the Attorney General signed off on a plan or policy (likely because Goddard has been giving them grief over this).

I'm kind of confused by contradictions in the CYA document and the security assessment, when it comes to the "loading" (like cattle) of new prisoners at Kingman this spring. The former says explicitly that there was a transition from minimum to medium custody level in April, but the latter says that the April arrivals were minimum security prisoners. Does the left hand of the ADC know what the right one is doing? If not, how can they keep on top of those contracts?

In the AZ Republic article, ADC director Ryan pledges to think carefully about how the state proceeds with those 5,000 new private prison beds that towns like Globe have been so hungry for. They just want to lock up people who really don't need to be behind bars - those prisoners who don't pose a risk to the public to begin with. I find that pretty distasteful, but I suppose every town will want someone else to take the mean prisoners while they keep the good ones who can tend the city parks. We'd still rather invest tens of thousands of dollars in incarcerating those folks after they get in trouble with the law than spend a fraction of that on the psychiatric or substance abuse treatment or quality education they need to avoid a prison term in this state.

With politicians and "community leaders" pushing the minimum security private prison idea on all these little towns as their only economic salvation, it's no wonder we haven't voted the legislature out of office for criminalizing everyone. Heads up, folks - they'll be coming to lock up your kids, next - possibly even for doing a good deed, too, like rescuing someone they found dying in the desert. They'd better check their papers before they take anyone to a hospital.

Anyway, you can read the articles and documents for yourself - it's pretty appalling how Kingman was run. That doesn't get the ADC off the hook, though. They go to the other extreme all too often, actually, caging, isolating, neglecting and brutalizing sick and helpless prisoners while the gangs run amok among the rest. They can sound good on paper, but in truth they spend a lot of time and money defending their right to abuse and neglect prisoners. To the best of my knowledge, no one in an Arizona State-run prison lives in the kind of lax environment you see at Kingman in that security assessment (one of the prisoners actually yelled "Fuck ADC" at the visitors. That's on page one. Bet you he got a major violation for that one).

The head honchos at Kingman have already resigned, but a lot of little heads are about to roll, too - probably poor area residents working the lowest wages to do the hardest jobs. They were clearly never adequately trained to take this kind of population on. Too bad the ADC missed that in their March 2010 audit of the place (back to the AZ Republic for that).

Kingman Escape: Maine on alert for McCluskey, Welch.

(FYI: McCluskey and Welch arrested in AZ 8/19/10 post)

Fugitives' Car Reportedly Sighted in Maine

08/17/2010 10:42 AM ET Maine Public Broadcasting Network

Authorities in Maine are on the lookout for an Arizona couple wanted in a July prison break in that state. An alert was issued after a reported sighting in central Maine of the car the two are believed to be driving According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Casslyn Mae Welch, 44, and her fiance and cousin, John McCluskey, 45, are thought to be driving a 1997 Nissan Sentra, described as either gold, tan or gray. Welch is alleged to have helped McCluskey and two other prisoners, who have since been recaptured, escape from a privately run state prison in Arizona on July 30. McCluskey and Welch are suspects in the murder of an Oklahoma couple, found in a burned trailer in New Mexico on August 4. The last credible sighting of the couple was on August 6 in Billings, Montana. Authorities believe the two may have changed their appearance since escaping. McCluskey (top) is believed to now have dark hair and a dark beard, and Welch (bottom) is likely thinner with blond hair. The U.S. Marshals Service says the couple has been known to use full service truck stops, rest areas, and camp grounds, and is asking travelers to be on the alert. The two are considered armed and extremely dangerous, authorities say.

ASPC-Kingman warden resigns.

(FYI: McCluskey and Welch arrested in AZ 8/19/10 post)


Here's the link to an interesting AZcentral.com / NBC12news - Phoenix piece about MTC's top administrators at the Kingman Prison stepping down:

http://www.azcentral.com/video/bcplayer/585047583001&pop=1

McCluskey and Welch are still on the run. A more recent photo of McCluskey in civilian clothes is to the right.

McCluskey's good conduct record in Kingman.

(FYI: McCluskey and Welch arrested in AZ 8/19/10 post)

More on what a model prisoner McCluskey was, reassuring us that he was properly placed in medium security at Kingman...

-----------------------------

Arizona: Fugitive’s Accomplice Offered to Be Informant

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: August 13, 2010

An Arizona fugitive’s accomplice was acting as a drug mule for a white supremacy group and agreed to become a police informant weeks before she helped him escape from prison, the authorities said Friday in Flagstaff. The accomplice, Casslyn Welch, and her fiancé and cousin, John McCluskey, are now considered among the most-wanted fugitives in America. The authorities say Ms. Welch helped Mr. McCluskey and two other men escape from the Arizona State Prison in Kingman by throwing wire cutters over a fence. The other two inmates, Daniel Renwick and Tracy Province, have been captured.

Ms. Welch was visiting Mr. McCluskey at the medium-security prison in June when a random search of her and her vehicle turned up marijuana, heroin and drug paraphernalia, said Trish Carter, a spokeswoman for the Mohave County sheriff’s office. Ms. Welch was not jailed because she agreed to become an informant, and she provided information about the suppliers of the drugs, Ms. Carter said. Ms. Welch told investigators that she was being paid by members or associates of a supremacist group to smuggle heroin into the prison, as she had successfully done three times before, but she declined to say who the items were intended for at the prison.

Fidencio Rivera, chief deputy United States marshal for Arizona, said that the authorities believed Ms. Welch and Mr. McCluskey had minimal ties to white supremacy groups in or out of prisons and that “we’re not expending much resources on that right now.”

Vote your hopes, not your fears.

Actually, this is a little overblown. Though there may be some repeat offenders (which anyone who has bounced more than one check in their lives also is), most of those returning prisoners are in for non-violent crimes. That's one of the problems, in fact - that we have so many of them (and people convicted of smuggling themselves) locked up in the first place we can't keep track of all the killers we cram them in with.

Just watch - next legislative session, Ryan will be telling everyone how much we need a new supermax facility, and we'll drop all sorts of money into that because of this escape, but when the teachers come say they can't live on their pay, we'll take their health insurance and kids' schoolbooks away.

That's fascism in action, folks. We build only that which we we dare to envision. Force our public servants to come up with real solutions to the crisis of mass incarceration - not just another high tech prison full of isolation units. Most "reforms " of late have only served the criminal justice system, not the cause of justice. Let's do this right, and maybe the next generation won't have so many McCluskeys to fear.

--------------------------from KGUN9 (Tucson)--------------------

Out-of-state prisoners could be placed at Kingman facility
Reporter: Steve Nuñez

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Nine On Your Side has learned the state has made room for 4,000 more prisoners. That's because Arizona is ending its out-of-state contracts with medium security prisons that hold more than 4,500 violent criminals.

Some of those out-of-state prisoners who are being transferred back to Arizona could be placed at the same medium security prison in Kingman, Arizona, where two murderers and a felon escaped from two weeks ago. 9OYS wants to know what is going on?

Governor Brewer, who has normally made herself available to the media, did not return our phone calls today.

But here's what we dug up on the state's prison situation. The state says its added 4,000 beds to its existing state-run prisons to increase its capacity.

We did the math. Two of those contracts, one in Colorado and one in Oklahoma, held a combined 2,826 prisoners. That means state-run prisons still have room to hold close to 1,200 more prisoners.

Nine On Your Side has also learned there's one more prison contract in Oklahoma that ends in September. That'll bring back an additional 1,724 prisoners, 58 of them who are murderers.

Again, do the math and that totals 4,550 new prisoners or 550 more violent criminals than the state can handle.

Earlier this week, Nine On Your Side also revealed the private-run medium security prison in Kingman has also added more beds to increase its capacity to 3500 prisoners.

9OYS reporter Steve Nunez asked the Department of Corrections if prisoners will be placed at the medium security prison in Kingman. DOC spokesperson Barrett Marson told us, "Kingman is a possibility."

Even the DOC wouldn't fully commit to giving us all of the answers to its recent investigation on The prison break.

However, it pointed to a newly released preliminary investigation that'll now force its contracted medium security prisons to do the following:

• Increase perimeter patrols at all medium and minimum units
• Security staff have been directed to be relieved at the security posts by the oncoming shift

The document also confirms that all contracted prisons including the one in Kingman have verbally committed to improving security practices and strictly complying with DOC policies.

While that may also point to the outcome of its internal investigation, Democrat lawmakers, like Kyrsten Sinema, tells 9OYS they'll keep up the pressure until Governor Brewer answers to people of Arizona.

"We feel that this issue is not very political. It's quite simple. Our state-run prisons have a great history of maintaining security, they're staff members have more training, they have more years on the job and they spend the money that's needed to keep our community secure. Private prisons, on the other hand, have a goal of making money," said Sinema.

Still, lawmakers from both parties want to know how John McClusky, Daniel Renwick and Tracy Province were able to get out of the prison near Kingman.

Democrats sent a letter to legislative leaders demanding hearings. Republican Russell Pearce says the public deserves answers but cautioned against rushing to judgment.

The DOC tells 9OYS the out-of-state prisons will foot the bill for transporting all remaining prisoners back to Arizona

“Who’s Guarding the Private Prison Guardians?

This summary of the ASPC-Kingman escape and related concerns regarding MTC comes from the guys at the Private Corrections Working Group, whose list-serve keeps us posted on the private prison industry.

PRESS RELEASE

August 9, 2010

Who’s Guarding the Private Prison Guardians?

For Immediate Release

At about 9:00 p.m. on Friday, July 30, alarms began to go off at the Management and Training Center’s (MTC) Arizona State Prison at Golden Valley, near Kingman. Other alarms appeared to be defective and didn’t sound. Only when an evening count was taken was it apparent that three extremely violent inmates had escaped.

The Mojave County’s Sheriff’s Office was finally notified of the escape at 10:20 p.m. Another 80 minutes elapsed before MTC notified state officials with the Arizona Department of Corrections. The media wasn’t alerted until mid-morning on Saturday, and thus the public was not informed about the dangerous escapees until that time.

Casslyn Mae Welch, the first cousin and fiancée of prisoner John McCluskey, allegedly had been caught smuggling drugs into the MTC-operated prison. That night she threw bolt cutters over the fence to McCluskey and his partners in the escape, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick. Welch then distracted a perimeter guard to cover their getaway.

Province, a neo-Nazi, and another recent parolee had stabbed a robbery victim 51 times in 1991. Renwick ambushed and killed his ex-girlfriend and her father in 2000. McCluskey had attempted to kill a man and an arresting officer in 2009, but his shotgun jammed.

Around midnight on July 30, McCluskey, Welch and Province hijacked a semi-truck parked by the highway in Kingman, kidnapped the drivers and forced them to drive to Flagstaff, 150 miles away. They released them about 5:00 a.m. on Saturday and then fled, possibly aided by another accomplice.

On August 1, an alert sheriff’s deputy in Rifle, Colorado spotted Renwick driving a Ford Bronco. A quick-thinking police officer chased and disabled the SUV after shots were fired at his cruiser, capturing Renwick.

Three days later a pickup belonging to Gary and Linda Hass, a 61-year-old vacationing Tecumseh, Oklahoma couple, was abandoned in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their cremated remains were found at a burned-out camper a hundred miles east in Santa Rosa on August 7. Forensics evidence has tied their deaths to the MTC escapees.

Police used On-Star to locate the missing pickup. From there, the police believe the killers headed north to Yellowstone National Park. Tracy Province was captured in Meeteetse, Wyoming on August 9 – eleven days after the escape. A massive manhunt for Welch and McCluskey continues, concentrated in Yellowstone.

Arizona Dept. of Corrections Director Charles Ryan laid the blame for the escape at MTC’s feet. “My concern is that the staff at this prison may have been lax in doing their job, and that probably created the opportunity so that they could escape,” he said.

On Memorial Day there had been a riot at the MTC-operated Golden Valley facility. News of that disturbance also was delayed, and the scope and severity of the incident were substantially minimized. Additionally, MTC’s Marana prison near Tucson rioted on February 10, 2010, resulting in injuries among both prisoners and staff.

Although it’s a small corporation, since 1995 over a dozen prisoners have escaped from MTC facilities in Utah, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Eagle Mountain, California where two inmates were also murdered during a race riot.

There has been no explanation regarding MTC’s responsibility for uncorrected security failures and the amateurish lack of timely notification that may have prevented this most recent tragedy. It is yet another example in a long history of lapses and failures of oversight that is pervasive in the private prison industry, where the motive of companies to generate profit by cutting corners leads to incidents that endanger public safety.

Until for-profit private prison companies and the lawmakers who support them are held accountable, avoidable tragedies such as the recent MTC escape are certain to recur. Unfortunately, any reforms will come too late for Gary and Linda Haas.

The Private Corrections Working Group (PCWG) is a non-profit citizen watchdog organization that works to educate the public about the significant dangers and pitfalls associated with the privatization of correctional services. PCWG maintains an online collection of news reports and other resources related to the private prison industry, and holds the position that for-profit prisons have no place in a free and democratic society. www.privateci.org.

For more information, please contact:

Ken Kopczynski, Executive Director

Private Corrections Working Group

1114 Brandt Drive

Tallahassee, FL 32

(850) 980-0887

kenk@privateci.org

ASPC-Kingman Escape: Another accomplice charged

(FYI: McCluskey and Welch arrested in AZ 8/19/10 post)

Ariz. authorities charge 2 with helping inmates

Arizona Daily Sun

Monday, August 9, 2010 7:00 pm

Authorities in Arizona have charged two women with helping convicted felons after they escaped from prison in the northwestern part of the state.

The Arizona Attorney General's Office on Monday charged 42-year-old Diana Joy Glattfelder and 68-year-old Claudia Washburn with hindering prosecution and conspiracy to commit escape.

Glattfelder lives in Prescott Valley and is the ex-wife of escapee John McCluskey. Washburn, of Payson, is McCluskey's mother. Both are accused of providing money, supplies or transportation to the inmates and their alleged accomplice, Casslyn Welch.

It was not clear if the women had attorneys.

Three violent inmates escaped from a prison near Kingman last month. Two have been captured but authorities say McCluskey is still on the run with Welch.

Province apprehended. Who wants to be the next prison town?

(FYI: McCluskey and Welch arrested in AZ 8/19/10 post)


Tracy Province was apprehended this morning in Wyoming without incident, looking nothing like his prison photo - it's a miracle and irony he was recognized at a church. Hopefully he will never be allowed to kill again. McCluskey and Welch are still out there someplace, and believed to have left the Yellowstone area. I've heard no news yet to suggest that any insiders or other accomplices have been arrested.


Based on the kinds of Google searches hitting this site in the past week, it appears as if a lot of citizens across the country are re-considering the wisdom of community leaders who have collaborated with other entities to convince them that a nice little prison in the hills or desert would be good for their town. Here's a little something more for you to consider: if you only want to lock away people who have been consumed by poverty or addiction or snared in desperate efforts to survive and don't mean anyone else any harm, then what is wrong with you? If someone is safe enough to be in minimum security prison - or a family detention center - why build the prison in the first place?


I endorse the proposal that we take that $25,000 or more/year Americans pay to brutalize each "desirable" prisoner, and invest in housing, health care and education on the outside instead - not industries and politicians guaranteed to profit from more crime, greed, and fear. They just promote public policies and celebrate ideologies that breed more sociopaths in our midst who think it's alright to exploit the vulnerabilities of others to their own advantage. They're among the worst offenders we have, and are already trying to figure out how to use this escape to make migrants, misfits and the mentally ill appear more dangerous than they are so we'll keep shelling out protection money for more prisons - which does very little, as you see, to keep the rest of us safe and free.


With more investment in building communities and restoring lives, we can then focus our energies on how to disempower and contain the most destructive and violent people among us who are truly determined to hurt anyone who gets in their way - whether or not we've thought to criminalize their methods yet...

ASPC Kingman Escape: Heads up Yellowstone.

(FYI: McCluskey and Welch arrested in AZ 8/19/10 post)

Police: Arizona escapees may be in Yellowstone area

By the CNN Wire Staff

August 8, 2010

(CNN) -- Authorities believe two Arizona prison escapees and their alleged accomplice may be in the Yellowstone National Park area of Montana and Wyoming, based on recent information, the U.S. Marshals Service said Sunday.

John Charles McCluskey, 45, and Tracy Province, 42, are described as armed and dangerous. They have been at large since fleeing an Arizona prison on July 30. A third escaped inmate, Daniel Renwick, 35, was arrested the day after the escape in Rifle, Colorado, where he got in a shootout with police.

McCluskey was serving 15 years for attempted second-degree murder and other charges. Province was serving a life sentence for murder and armed robbery.

A female accomplice helped Province, McCluskey and Renwick, escape by throwing cutting tools over a prison fence, according to Charles Ryan, director of Arizona's Department of Corrections.

Authorities have identified the suspected accomplice as Casslyn Mae Welch, 43. Welch is McCluskey's cousin and fiancee, CNN affiliate KTVK reported.

"Information developed within the past two days indicated the escapees may be hiding in the Yellowstone Park area within Montana and Wyoming," U.S. Marshals said in a statement Sunday. "It is believed Tracy Province has separated from John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch."

A U.S. Marshals team from Arizona has been in the Yellowstone Park area since Sunday morning, spokesman Thomas Henman said. The team is working with U.S. marshals in Montana and Wyoming, as well as the National Parks Service.

Henman wouldn't divulge the source of the information that has led authorities to Yellowstone, but said it is believed to be very credible. Although the case was featured on "America's Most Wanted" Saturday night, the information did not come from a viewer, Henman said.

A $40,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the escapees' arrest, Henman said.

The New Mexico Department of Public Safety said Saturday police have forensic evidence linking Province and McCluskey to a couple found slain in New Mexico last week. Two burned bodies were found in a camper Wednesday in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, according to Peter Olson, spokesman for the department.

New Mexico police have yet to positively identify the burned bodies, but believe they are Linda and Gary Haas of Oklahoma, whose truck was found 120 miles away in Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to Olson. He would not elaborate on the nature of the forensic evidence.

Earlier Saturday, authorities arrested McCluskey's mother and charged her with aiding the escape. Claudia Washburn, 68, was arrested in Jakes Corner, Arizona, and faces charges of conspiracy to facilitate escape and hindering prosecution, Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Henman told CNN.

Washburn, who is Welch's aunt, allegedly provided "financial and other aid" to McCluskey, Province and Welch. A search warrant was executed, and Washburn was being held on $250,000 bond at the Gila County Jail in Globe, Arizona, the U.S. Marshals said.

In an interview with CNN Arizona affiliate KTVK, Washburn's husband said that he'd shoot his stepson McCluskey if he saw him again.

"I told the U.S Marshals I haven't got that long to live," Jack Washburn said. "(I'd) serve my time."

"You think you're Bonnie and Clyde," he continued, referring to the two escapees. " You're not. No comparison."

After the break, the inmates and the accomplice abducted two truck drivers at gunpoint on Interstate 40 outside of Kingman, Arizona, and hijacked their 18-wheeler, according to the Mohave County sheriff's department in Kingman. The truck drivers and the rig were released five hours later in Flagstaff, about 135 miles to the east.

The fugitives were later believed to be driving a 2002 silver Volkswagen Jetta purchased last Saturday in Phoenix. They were later spotted on a security camera in a bank inside a grocery store in Goodyear, Arizona, according to

Barrett Marson, spokesman for the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Henman said Sunday he didn't know what transportation the escapees were thought to have taken to the Yellowstone area.

CNN's Chuck Johnston contributed to this report.

ASPC-Kingman Escape: Medium security killers still loose.

(FYI: McCluskey and Welch arrested in AZ 8/19/10 post)


This is a fascinating article from Kingman. Here, by the way, is the ADC record of a state-held, non-violent prisoner (who was given a ludricrous 52 years) and is currently assessed as a medium security risk. His threat level is such because he's a jailhouse lawyer, not because he's really "dangerous". Now compare him to Province and McCluskey. The ranking system seems designed to protect the prisons first, not the communities who host them.

So, if you're entertaining CCA, GEO, MTC, Corplan, or Cornell in your neighborhood thinking they'll bring good jobs and being told that your new prison is just going have non-violent offenders, forget it (check out these guys out if I missed you local prison profiteer). The pay is dirt, the security is poor, and rehab - at both state and private facilities - is really a thing of the past. We may put more into them than we do for education here, but Arizona prisons are just warehouses where they throw the vulnerable in with the deadly, evidently spending our resources covering their own asses, not protecting ours. They sure aren't spending it on their prisoners' well-being...

117 killers housed in Golden Valley

Erin Taylor

Kingman Daily Miner Staff Reporter

8/8/2010 6:01:00 AM

KINGMAN - Johnathan Doody was found guilty 17 years ago of killing nine people at a Phoenix-area Buddhist Temple. The victims were robbed, lined up and shot execution-style.

Doody was one of two men convicted in the 1991 killings, which remains one of the worst mass-murders in Arizona history. Since June 30, he has been housed at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Kingman in Golden Valley.

As of the end of June, there were 117 murderers serving out life sentences at the Kingman prison. Of those, 57 have been convicted of first-degree murder.

Statewide, some 1,400 inmates are serving time for murder in medium-security facilities. Of those, 796 are serving life sentences.

Much of the anger over last week's prison escape came from the fact that the three men who escaped were all violent offenders convicted of either murder or attempted murder. Residents said that when the prison was built in 2004, they were told that it would house only DUI and other low-level offenders. That belief was officially debunked after it was learned that the three inmates who escaped more than a week ago all share violent criminal histories.

John McCluskey was serving a 15-year sentence for attempted murder after shooting at someone through the window of a Mesa home in 2009. He reportedly told police that he would have killed the man, along with the arresting police officer, if his shotgun hadn't jammed.

Tracy Province was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder and armed robbery after stabbing a man 51 times in 1991.

Daniel Renwick, the inmate captured in Colorado two days after the escape, was serving two consecutive 22-year sentences for shooting and killing his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend and her father in 2000.

The Kingman facility, which opened in 2004, is one of four privately-run prisons in the state. The Arizona Department of Corrections operates 10 others.

The Utah-based Management and Training Corporation operates the Kingman and Marana prisons.

The Kingman prison is classified as a minimum-to-medium security facility. Many individuals are unaware that someone serving out a sentence for murder can be classified as medium custody, a practice common not only in Arizona but also in neighboring states California and New Mexico, according to Barrett Marson, public information officer for the ADOC.

Marson said that it's possible for inmates to work their way down the levels of custody based on good behavior and how many years of a sentence have been served.

According to the ADOC, inmates sentenced to death are classified as "maximum" and can never reduce levels.

Inmates sentenced to life must serve at least two years in maximum custody, then three years in "close" custody before they are eligible for medium custody. Close custody is one level below maximum and just above medium custody and is reserved for those inmates who pose a high risk to prison staff.

Those serving life sentences can never be reduced to below the medium custody level.

Inmates with more than five years to serve or those with a felony sex conviction can also never be placed below medium custody.

Inmates who have been determined to be a security threat are classified as maximum custody.

Marson said there is a specific department at ADOC devoted to determining when and how an inmate is reclassified from level to level, but he didn't know if a representative from that department meets with the inmate in person, or if the process is all done through paperwork.

Only minimum-custody inmates are allowed to work outside of the prison on community work crews. Medium-security inmates are not allowed to leave the facility but can participate in other programs, such as the Friends From the Pen dog-training program, in which both McCluskey and Province worked.

It is believed that the escaped inmates took advantage of the unlocked doors between their dormitory and the outside dog run used for the dogs in the program. McCluskey's fiancée, 44-year-old Casslyn Welch, was waiting in a getaway vehicle and tossed the men a pair of wire cutters over the perimeter fence.

ADOC Director Charles Ryan has said he suspects that "lax security" on the part of prison personnel contributed to the escape.

Ryan met Wednesday with MTC officials.

"We have been assured that MTC is committed to addressing and correcting the security deficiencies that contributed to the escape," he said in a news release. "An Arizona Department of Corrections security team is at the private prison conducting a comprehensive operational evaluation."

Attempts made by the Miner to speak with Ryan have been unsuccessful.

The officials will meet again next week. MTC has deferred comment on the escape to ADOC.

Province and McCluskey are still believed to be with Welch. Marson said authorities believe the trio have left Arizona and are headed east.

As for Doody, he is appealing his 281-year sentence. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year threw out his confession on grounds it was involuntary and forwarded the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it awaits ruling.

Kingman escapees suspected in N.M. murders.

(FYI: McCluskey and Welch arrested in AZ 8/19/10 post. All escapees back in custody.)


This is one profoundly sad and gruesome answer to my question about whose expense the profit for the private prison industry comes at. For those just tuning in, I'm including the background to this AP story, as narrated in an e-mail by my friend from the Private Corrections Working Group, where you can find more information about the for-profit prison industry. They have me on a list-serve to keep us posted about these things. Even the people of Kingman and the families of these men's victims can't seem to count on the industry or the state to inform them.

Thanks for the heads-up, Frank. Look out America - they're still on the run.

-------------------------------------

This is unbelievably tragic.

The MTC for-profit prison in Golden Valley (near Kingsburg) Arizona had an escape on Friday, July 30th, some time after 4:00 p.m. Although alarms signaling a cut fence went off, an incredibly brutal trio, two murderers and an attempted murderer, were not missed until the 9:00 p.m. count. The prison further delayed notifying the Mojave County Sheriff's office until 10:19. MTC only notified the state Department of Corrections at 11:37 p.m.

A perimeter guard had come upon the escapees' woman confederate, Casslyn Mae Welch, who is thought to have tossed wire cutters over the fence. She diverted the guard's attention from the escape by asking for directions to Flagstaff.

Sometime around midnight Friday, two escapees John (Charles) McCluskey, Tracy Province and Welch hijacked a semi with two drivers and drove it to Flagstaff, 150 miles away, arriving around 5:00 a.m. on Saturday. They left the terrified drivers unharmed and fled via unknown means.

Early on Saturday morning, I was notified by a reporter who had heard about the escape from a family member of another inmate. She had searched the Internet in vain for any mention of the incredibly brutal escapees. It wasn't until over 12 hours after the men fled that some broadcast media began to pick it up on their websites.

The neighbors of the prison in Golden Valley and Kingsburg were not notified, many not becoming aware that they might still have the escapees in their midst until seeing it on television on Sunday morning.

The third escapee, Daniel Renwick, who had split off, was captured after a chase and gun battle in Rifle, Colorado on Sunday.

The Payson, Arizona mother of McCluskey, one of the pair who remained free was arrested today for her alleged part in the escape. She is the maternal aunt of Welch, who was engaged to marry McCluskey, her first cousin.

Meanwhile, the three continued on through apparent changes of vehicles to New Mexico where they kidnapped and murdered a 61-year-old couple from Tecumseh, Oklahoma, stealing their car and abandoning it in Albuquerque, and cremating their bodies in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, near highway intersections to Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma.

No further information has been received about what direction they may have taken from there.

--------------------------------------

Arizona prison escapees linked to N.M. killings

By AMANDA LEE MYERS

The Associated Press (As reported in the Salt Lake Tribune)

August 7, 2010 09:26PM

Phoenix • Two men who escaped from a private Arizona prison and a woman thought to have helped them have been linked to the investigation of a couple’s killing in New Mexico, authorities said Saturday.

New Mexico State Police spokesman Peter Olson said Tracy Province, John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch were linked through forensics but he declined to provide specifics.

He declined to say whether police believe the three were responsible for the killings, adding that “we don’t know how involved they are.”

Province, McCluskey and Daniel Renwick escaped from the medium-security Arizona State Prison near Kingman on July 30 after authorities say 44-year-old Casslyn Welch of Mesa threw wire cutters over the perimeter fence. Renwick was arrested in Colorado on Aug. 1. The prison is managed by Management & Training Corp. of Centerville.

The badly burned skeletal remains of Linda and Gary Haas, both 61, of Tecumseh, Okla., were found in a charred camper on Wednesday morning on a remote ranch in Santa Rosa in eastern New Mexico.

Olson said a car belonging to the couple was found 100 miles west in Albuquerque on Wednesday afternoon.

The Arizona Department of Corrections says the three men escaped by cutting a hole in the prison’s perimeter fence and later kidnapping two semi-truck drivers at gunpoint and using the big rig to flee. The group left the drivers unharmed in the truck at a stop just off Interstate 40 in Flagstaff and then fled.

Province was serving a life sentence for murder and robbery out of Pima County. McCluskey was serving a 15-year prison term for attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and discharge of a firearm out of Maricopa County. Renwick had been serving a 22-year sentence for second-degree murder.

A nationwide search was under way for McCluskey, Province and Welch, and “America’s Most Wanted” planned to air a segment about the group. The group may be using a 1997 platinum gold Nissan Sentra with Arizona license plate 6-2-0-P-F-V.

Thomas Henman, supervisory deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service in Phoenix, said the group should be considered “extremely dangerous,” and urged the public to be very careful if they spot them and call authorities immediately.

“These are hardened criminals, and they’re armed,” he said. “And the longer they are out there, the more desperate they become and the more dangerous they become.”

He said the Marshals Service is working feverishly to find the group.

“Eventually they will be caught,” he said. “Obviously we want that to be sooner rather than later.”

Meanwhile Saturday, the Marshals Service arrested McCluskey’s mother in Jakes Corner south of Payson, Ariz., after authorities suspect she gave financial and other types of support to help McCluskey, Province and Welch on their flight from authorities.

Claudia Washburn, 68, was arrested at her home and place of business on charges of conspiracy to commit escape, hindering prosecution and facilitation to commit escape.

All in the Family: McCluskey's mom arrested.

(FYI: McCluskey and Welch arrested in AZ 8/19/10 post. All escapees back in custody.)


Mother of escaped inmate arrested in Arizona

By AMANDA LEE MYERS

Associated Press Writer

August 7, 2010 01:47PM
(as posted in the Salt Lake Tribune)

PAYSON, Ariz. • The mother of one of three inmates who escaped from a northwestern Arizona prison was arrested Saturday after authorities suspected she helped two of them.

Claudia Washburn, 68, was arrested at her home and place of business in Jakes Corner south of Payson on charges of conspiracy to commit escape, hindering prosecution and facilitation to commit escape, said Thomas Henman, supervisory deputy at the U.S. Marshals Service.

He said Washburn is the mother of John McCluskey, who escaped from the medium-security Arizona State Prison near Kingman with Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick on July 30.

Authorities believe McCluskey’s fiancee and cousin — 44-year-old Casslyn Welch of Mesa — helped the inmates escape by throwing wire cutters over the prison fence.

Henman said Washburn is suspected of giving financial and other types of support to help McCluskey, Province and Welch. Renwick was arrested Aug. 1 in Rifle, Colo. following a brief car chase and shoot-out.

Washburn lives and works at the general store in Jakes Corner. Investigators were searching the store and Washburn’s apartment for evidence.

The Arizona Department of Corrections says the three men escaped by cutting a hole in the prison’s perimeter fence and later kidnapping two semi-truck drivers at gunpoint and using the big rig to flee. The group left the drivers unharmed in the truck at a stop just off Interstate 40 in Flagstaff and then fled.

Province was serving a life sentence for murder and robbery out of Pima County. McCluskey was serving a 15-year prison term for attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and discharge of a firearm out of Maricopa County. Renwick had been serving a 22-year sentence for second-degree murder.

A nationwide search was under way for McCluskey, Province and Welch. The group may be using a 1997 platinum gold Nissan Sentra with Arizona license plate 6-2-0-P-F-V.

The Kingman escape: Dollars and Nonsense

(FYI: McCluskey and Welch arrested in AZ 8/19/10 post. All escapees back in custody.)



Here's the latest AP article out there about the Kingman escape. I almost posted this one that had Goddard blaming the escape on Brewer's budget cuts, too, but I've already addressed that claim as bogus.

God help us if Goddard's agenda is to increase the ADC's funding for private prisons now, instead of decreasing the number of people we incarcerate. He should be focusing on restorative justice projects and preventative measures, like helping more youth access college. Please don't go there again, Terry. This escape happened at a place that's still profiting from our contracts with them - the prisoners and guards may be hurting, but MTC investors are doing just fine, I'm sure. The prison management was sloppy and their staff may be complicit, but MTC is not suffering from poverty like our public schools are. Slap them with fines and cancel their contract instead.

--------------------------------

Arizona inmate escape exposes security flaws

By FELICIA FONSECA (AP) – 8 hours ago

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The three inmates didn't seem to arouse the least bit of suspicion when they sneaked out of their dorm rooms and rushed to the perimeter of the medium-security prison.

Alarms that were supposed to go off didn't. No officers noticed anything amiss. And no one was apparently paying attention when the violent criminals sliced open fences with wire cutters and vanished into the Arizona desert in their orange jumpsuits.

The series of blunders surrounding the escape and the state's practice of housing hardened murderers and other violent criminals in private, medium-security prisons have placed Arizona corrections officials under intense scrutiny in recent days.

Two of the fugitives remained at large Wednesday as the manhunt entered its fifth day. Authorities believe the inmates have left Arizona and were heading east with a girlfriend who allegedly threw the wire cutters over a fence and fled with two of them.

Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan said he met Wednesday with representatives of the Utah-based prison company Management and Training Corp. and that they "have been assured that MTC is committed to addressing and correcting the security deficiencies that contributed to the escape."

Ryan said a corrections security team at the prison was completing a comprehensive evaluation, and he would meet with MTC next week to finalize a plan.

Investigators were focused on how the inmates managed to go undetected for several hours around the time of the escape and why three violent criminals were allowed in a medium-security prison in the first place.

An Arizona lawmaker said the state needs to overhaul its inmate classification system, which allowed the prisoners to get put into the medium-security lockup despite their violent pasts. Corrections officials said their prison behavior was good enough that they downgraded the inmates' threat risk, clearing the way for placement in the facility.

"One thing we might have to look at is saying if you're convicted of a crime that is as serious as murder, that you are always considered a high risk," said David Lujan, a state lawmaker who unsuccessfully sought to regulate the types of inmates held in private prisons. "They may be a moderate risk to the staff when they're inside. But when you see what happens outside afterward, obviously, they're more than a moderate risk to the public."

The Arizona State Prison in Kingman sits amid nothing but a dusty field, three miles from a major east-west interstate highway.

It opened in 2004 and was designed to house repeat drug and alcohol offenders and set them on a path to rehabilitation, but eventually grew to include more serious offenders in a separate unit. That was where Daniel Renwick, 36, Tracy Province, 42, and John McCluskey, 45, plotted their escape.

Province was serving a life sentence for murder and robbery, including allegations that he stabbed his victim multiple times over money. Renwick was serving two 22-year sentences for two counts of second-degree murder, and McCluskey was doing 15 years for attempted murder, aggravated assault and discharge of a firearm. Authorities originally said McCluskey was convicted of murder, when it was in fact attempted murder.

Province has a dozen prison disciplinary infractions since 1996 — many of them drug-related. He worked in the prison's kitchen, while Province and McCluskey worked in the prison dog kennel, where they trained the animals for adoption.

The trio last was accounted for at 4 p.m. Friday, said Department of Corrections spokesman Barrett Marson. Staff noticed the men missing in a head count and after electronic sensors along the perimeter fence sounded around 9 p.m.

The local sheriff's office wasn't notified of the escape until 10:19 p.m., and state corrections officials weren't called until 11:37 p.m.

"I think there was a concern by everyone that it was after the fact," said Trish Carter, a spokeswoman for the Mohave County Sheriff's Office. "Time is of the essence during this type of incident. The faster you get there, the more likely you're able to catch these inmates who escaped the facility."

The three hopped a fence in the area of the dog kennel and used wire cutters that McCluskey's fiancee, who also is his cousin, had thrown over a fence to cut through two perimeter fences and flee.

Carl Stuart, a spokesman for MTC, indicated that the dog program might have to be suspended because of the incident. He declined to comment further on security at the 3,508-bed prison.

Province, McCluskey and his fiancee, 44-year-old Casslyn Mae Welch of Mesa, kidnapped two semi-truck drivers at gunpoint in Kingman and used the big rig to flee to Flagstaff, police said. Renwick was captured Sunday after an early morning shootout with an officer in Colorado.

Ryan has said "lax" security may have created an opportunity for the men to escape, and authorities are looking into whether prison staff members might have aided the inmates. Ryan also has said the prison contractor will "be on the hook" for costs associated with finding the fugitives.

The fugitives were among more than 115 inmates housed at the medium-security unit where others convicted murderers were held. Under their classification, they were considered a moderate risk to the public and staff. They weren't allowed to work outside the prison and were limited in their movement within the prison walls.

The men were in orange jumpsuits when they escaped, which should have been easy to spot against the desert backdrop, said Kristen Green of Phoenix, who visits an inmate at the prison.

"Guards should be on top of this, people in the control room should be on top of this," she said. "There's no way that they should have missed these guys, three of them going through a fence? This was pretty well planned."