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 sharing, 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 was be treated adequately, 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 oath 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."

McCluskey & Welch captured in Apache County, AZ.

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.

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. (this math assumes that they're all "violent criminals". They aren't. - Peg)

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

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

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: Aryan Brotherhood surprise.

The headline says a lot. Here's another link to a long article for those who need more - I don't. This country - especially this state - has a lot of white supremacists on our hands who don't hesitate to hurt anyone of any race or creed who gets in their path, some of whom are lawmakers, not lawbreakers. I hope these killers get caught before they take out anyone else, but we have a lot more work to do than taking them down if we're going to build a just society.

I just keep wondering why their racist gang affiliation didn't tip anyone at the AZ Department of Corrections off that Province and McCluskey were high risk. How reliable is the person or system that ranks a white supremacist prison gang member as a medium security risk and gives them a prized job handling dogs? Truly decent people inside die waiting for assignments like that - someone working for MTC or the ADC had their backs in more ways than one. Both institutions better give up the "model prisoner" line of defense, because the truth about them just keeps getting worse.

Anyway, since I'm going to try to keep my focus on the bigger picture and am just one person, don't look here for the latest on the escapees - especially if you think you're in their path.

Heads up Yellowstone Campers: ASPC-Kingman escape.

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.

Medium security killers still loose: ASPC Kingman Escape.

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 your 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.

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.

Kingman Prison Escape: MTC 's sluggish response

This is all very disturbing...this is why there should be a law preventing the farming out of prisoners to private industry - they have their own profits, not public safety, as the utmost priority. With the money we pour into our prisons in this state, there's absolutely no excuse for this to have happened.

Think about that, all you small towns courting new prisons as the best hope you can offer for your children's futures. This stuff really does happen, and now it can happen in your own back yard...Kingman might want to reconsider adding more cells as well.

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Arizona cons' escape raises many questions

by Nathan Gonzalez and Eddi Trevizo - Aug. 3, 2010 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

When the man who plunged a knife 51 times into their loved one received a sentence of life in prison in May 1993, Bryan Knoblich and his mother hoped they would never hear Tracy Province's name again.

In 1991, Province and David Rodacker were on leave from jail when they attacked Norman Knoblich, 57, as he closed his coin-operated laundry business in Tucson. The pair left Norman dead and took only his wallet.

Nineteen years later, Bryan Knoblich and his mother are again on the lookout for his father's killer.

Province, 42, John McCluskey, 45, and Daniel Renwick, 36, escaped from a privately run medium-security state prison in Kingman on Friday night.

"My first thought was, 'Are you kidding?' " Bryan said, recalling when he heard Province's name on the weekend news. "He's a twisted guy. Why weren't they in a maximum-security facility?"

It's a question Mohave County supervisors and other officials are asking as authorities continue their search for Province and McCluskey. Renwick was recaptured Sunday in Colorado.

"It's one thing when it's vehicular homicide and you're drunk," County Supervisor Buster Johnson said Monday of such prisoners. "But these people shouldn't be allowed anywhere else but in (maximum security)."

While the manhunt continues, officials with the county, the Arizona Department of Corrections, and Management and Training Corp., the Utah-based company that operates the facility, are studying how the men penetrated several layers of security.

Unarmed prison officials sounded the alarm about 9 p.m. after Province, McCluskey and Renwick missed their head count, Johnson said. An hour passed before the Mohave County Sheriff's Office was notified that the men somehow had made their way through locked doors and avoided surveillance cameras, ground and fence sensors, guard towers and roving ground patrols before cutting a hole in fencing near a dormitory.

Officials are now investigating whether the escapees had inside help.

"That's the question," Johnson said. "With this whole situation, this does bring up some concerns."

Authorities believe the men were assisted by McCluskey's fiancee, Casslyn Welch of Mesa. They are believed to have hijacked two semitrucks and driven to Flagstaff before purchasing a car in Goodyear.

Renwick was captured in Rifle, Colo., following a shootout with local authorities. No one was hurt and Renwick was booked into the Garfield County Jail.

Although state officials have said all three men were serving time for murder, court records show McCluskey was serving 15 years for attempted murder after he fired a shotgun into a Mesa home in March 2009. He told police he would have killed his target had his weapon not jammed, records say.

"He (McCluskey) also indicated that he would have shot the officer who detained him," court documents state.

The Kingman facility holds 3,508 inmates, according to Carl Stuart, a Management and Training Corp. spokesman.

Of those inmates, 117 are serving life sentences, with 57 being housed on first-degree murder and 60 on second-degree murder convictions, according to state corrections officials. The facility is classified as a medium-security prison, meaning it houses "inmates who represent a moderate risk to the public and staff," state Corrections Department Director Charles Ryan said in a release.

Prison officials are seeking bids to add an additional 5,000 beds at the prison, which means the facility could house inmates from other states, Johnson said.

AZ Private Prisons: Brewer Profits, the People Pay.

So MTC will get the bill for capturing these escaped murderers, but who will actually pay the price? The families of their victims already are. They should be compensated for their trauma and terror, not the state for it's inconvenience. The Arizona Department of Corrections put those guys in medium security and failed to oversee MTC's operations adequately in the first place.

Still want to privatize all the prisons, Governor Brewer? Should the rest of us have to pay for the industry's contributions to your campaign? I hope the families of these men's victims break down your door to hold you accountable. Pearce's, too, while they're at it. All those contracts should be canceled without delay.

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9 Wants to know: When a dangerous prisoner escaped why was a victim not told for almost a day?

Posted: Aug 03, 2010 1:51 AM EDT

Reporter: Craig Smith

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - When a prison inmate escaped--who killed a woman's husband and daughter, she says 19 hours went by before the Arizona Department of Corrections informed her she could be in danger.

KGUN 9 wants to know why.

Daniel Renwick was one of three inmates who escaped from a privately run prison in Kingman.

For Vicki Walker learning that Renwick escaped brought back a world of bad memories.

"He murdered my husband and my daughter, " she said. "They were in their vehicle and he shot them, leaving my grandson who was 14 months. Kaleb now is ten."

The way she heard of the escape made things worse. A son in law in another state saw it on the news and called her.

Mrs. Walker says, "As a victim I'm supposed to be notified right away if there's an escape or if he's released and I did not hear from Department of Corrections for 19 hours."

KGUN9 News asked Arizona Department of Corrections director Charles Ryan what went wrong.

Ryan said, "The Department was also not advised immediately about the escape by Management Training Corporation and it's unfortunate it took as long as it did."

Management Training Corporation is the contractor running the prison the men escaped from but Ryan admitted even when D.O.C. knew about the escape it was still slow to tell Mrs. Walker that Renwick was loose.

KGUN9 reporter Craig Smith asked D.O.C. director Ryan: "Can any steps be taken to avoid a repeat of such a thing?"

Ryan replied: "Well, I hope it doesn't happen again we have reviewed the steps that were taken I do know the initial focus was trying to get law enforcement and Department resources to respond to try and pursue the apprehension and we will add emphasis to the importance of trying to notify victims in a much more timely manner henceforth."

Now that Daniel Renwick's been captured, Vicki Walker knows his escape will put him away for even longer than his original 44 year sentence.

"I don't think he'll be getting out now---forever," she said.

On the even bigger question of how the men escaped, Ryan says the girlfriend of one of them was able to walk up to the prison fence and throw them wire cutters.

The D.O.C. is looking into how that could happen undetected.

The state's contract with the private prison company allows for fines and penalties.

Ryan says one penalty definitely will happen. The company will get a bill for all the expenses of finding the escapees.