The Arizona Department of Corrections employee assigned to ensure a privately run prison near Kingman was operated according to state standards was overwhelmed by paperwork and admitted he screwed up, according to an internal review released Monday of a prison escape that led to a nationwide manhunt.
David Lee, who was associate deputy warden at the facility when the escape took place July 30, told the state's internal investigators that he had not read the contract between the state and prison operator Management & Training Corp. in his 14 months on the job and that he was unaware of the persistent issues with false alarms that plagued the complex.
A lieutenant told investigators that the alarm system could go off 200 or 300 times a shift.
The report also indicates that the alarm system hadn't been serviced in two years after a contract expired with a maintenance provider.
Neither Lee nor any of his superiors knew anything about the alarm problems, according to the report. Lee was fired and his supervisor resigned following the escape.
Daniel Renwick, 36, Tracy Province, 43, and John McCluskey, 45, broke out of the prison July 30 after McCluskey's fiancée, Casslyn Welch, 44, allegedly threw cutting tools and weapons into the prison yard.
An officer initially said the perimeter was clear after the escape and authorities worked under the assumption that the inmates were still inside the compound until the officer returned a second time and noticed a hole in the perimeter fence.
Renwick was captured in Colorado on Aug. 1 and Province was captured in Wyoming on Aug. 9.
McCluskey and Welch were caught in Arizona on Aug. 19. Province, McCluskey and Welch remain in a Mohave County jail waiting to face charges there in connection with the escape or extradition to New Mexico in connection with the slaying of a tourist couple.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/09/20/20100920arizona-inmate-escape-internal-report.html#ixzz107j4E3pn