Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Flashback: Gary Tison was serving two consecutive life sentences for murder when, accompanied by another killer named Randy Greenawalt and aided by members of Tison's family, he broke out of Arizona State Prison in 1978. Tison and his gang murdered six people before they were stopped near the Mexican border. The chilling trek came to an end in a shoot-out: Donny was killed; Tison fled but later died of exposure; sons Ray and Ricky, and Randy Greenawalt were convicted and sentenced to death row. Tison's sons later had their sentences commuted to life in prison, but Randy Greenawalt was executed in January 1997.
The manhunt for the Tison gang is recounted in "Last Rampage: The Escape of Gary Tison," by James W. Clarke (University of Arizona Press 1999).
More than 30 years later, overtaxed law enforcement and overcrowded prisons can only make us wonder if such an incident could happen again.
Today: Last friday, three convicted murderers escaped from the medium-security Arizona State Prison in Golden Valley (near Kingman) operated by Management and Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah. The men kidnapped two semi-truck drivers at gunpoint and used their big rig to flee. 3 inmates escape from northwest Arizona prison:
[T]he men escaped Friday evening by cutting a hole through a perimeter fence at the medium-security Arizona State Prison in Golden Valley, about 90 miles southeast of Las Vegas. They should be considered especially dangerous because of the nature of their convictions, he said.
Officials identified the escapees as Tracy Province, 42, who was serving a life sentence for murder and robbery; Daniel Renwick, 36, serving 22 years for second-degree murder; and John McCluskey, 45, serving 15 years for second-degree murder, aggravated assault and discharge of a firearm.
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Flagstaff police Sgt. James Jackson said a woman identified as Casslyn Mae Welch, 44, met the men and helped in their escape, and at about 5 a.m. Saturday, the group kidnapped two drivers of a semi-truck in Kingman and forced them at gunpoint to drive two hours east to Flagstaff.
The group left the drivers, unharmed, in the truck at a stop just off Interstate 40 and then fled in an unknown direction, Jackson said.
Daniel Renwick, was captured Sunday in Rifle, Colorado following a chase and a shootout with police. He is being questioned by the FBI.
Province, McClusky and Welch were spotted in Phoenix Saturday, withdrawing money from ATMs.
Officials with the Department of Corrections are scrambling to tighten security at the prison, where the escape is being blamed on a combination of lax guards and a failed alarm system. Arizona Fugitives Believed to Be Traveling With Fiancee – ABC News:
Officials blamed the breakdown on a private company from Utah that operates the security system at Arizona State Prison-Kingman in Golden Valley. An alarm failed, they said, on the door that the inmates passed through. Although a second alarm sounded when the inmates cut through the fence, the guards apparently failed to notice.
"My concern is the staff at this prison may have been lax in their job," Ryan said, "and that probably created the opportunity so that they could escape."
According to the Kingman Daily Miner:
The prison, which is operated by Management and Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, opened in 2004 and was said to be built to house low-level and other non-violent offenders. Questions posed to MTC about why three murder suspects were being incarcerated there were not being answered Saturday.
The Arizona Republic has the latest update Lax security may have aided prison breakout, Arizona authorities say:
Officials from the DOC, the U.S. Marshal's Service, the Arizona Department of Transportation and various local agencies continue to scour the state for Province, 42, and McCluskey, 45.
Casslyn Welch, 44, McCluskey's fiancee, is suspected of being an accomplice in their escape and to be traveling with both fugitives.
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All three are believed to be together and still in Arizona.
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The three others were last spotted on Saturday in Goodyear, where DOC officials said they purchased a car from a private seller.
The vehicle is described as a silver, four-door, 2002 Volkswagen Jetta with Arizona license plate 334VAN. It has a "Watch the Car" sticker.
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Members of the community are urged to dial 911 in case of a sighting and to not approach the escapees, who are believed to be armed and extremely dangerous.
"These men are violent." Rivera said. "They have killed before."
The question posed by the Kingman Daily Miner needs to be answered by the Department of Corrections: why were dangerous murderers being incarcerated in a medium-security prison built to house low-level and other non-violent offenders, and operated by a rent-a-guard private company with lax security protocols? How many other dangerous convicted felons are being incarcerated in Arizona's medium-security prisons operated by rent-a-guard private companies? If dangerous convicted murderers are being incarcerated in our medium-security prisons, who exactly is being incarcerated in our maximum-security prisons?
The broader question here is the Republican-dominated Arizona legislature's attempt to privatize the state's prison system, including a bill this past session that would have permitted private companies to operate death row. Yeah, I don't think so.
Governor Jan Brewer already had her own prison scandal of sorts: two of her staff members are lobbyists for Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) which stands to benefit from Arizona's criminalization of undocumented immigrants and their being held as prisoners under SB 1070. Brewer's fear mongering helps drive tourists away from Arizona — but CCA doesn't mind. The Governor will now have to answer for the Department of Corrections in this prison escape.
Let's all hope and pray that this latest prison escape does not turn out as badly as the Tison gang did in 1978.
"Let's be careful out there."
UPDATE: The Arizona Republic reports Arizona cons' escape raises many questions:
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.
"Why weren't they in a maximum-security facility?" It's a question Mohave County supervisors and other officials are asking. We are still waiting for an answer from the Department of Corrections and the governor.