Save for a few brave ink stained wretches, most notably Bob Ortega of the Arizona Republic, this escape story has been almost universally mangled by the media, which never seemed able to correct its glaring errors.
The three escapees separated immediately outside the fence, when one hijacked the getaway vehicle, leaving his fellow escapees and their accomplice stranded in the desert.
He was captured in a shootout in Rifle, Colorado the next day. He is now doing 60 years at Colorado taxpayers' expense, with Arizona off the hook for his keep.
The Oklahoma couple who were murdered were the second pair to be kidnapped, robbed and hijacked within five days by the remaining trio. They were not shot "at a rest stop," as would become obvious by even the most superficial reading of the actual coverage.
The "nationwide search" was mangled as well. The inept (Mis)management and Training Corporation took hours to discover the escape, hours more to report it to outside law enforcement and corrections officials. One after another opportunity to capture them was botched, though one killer virtually turned himself in in Wyoming ten days after he'd fled the prison. The last two fell victim to their own carelessness and were captured unawares and without incident in an Arizona campground.
The bought-off Arizona legislature is always willing to accommodate. Rod Gould, the state senator who represents Kingman and Golden Valley, where the escape actually occurred, killed an effort at providing more competent oversight last year. He's running for Congress now and is certainly trolling for campaign contributions.
The Department of Corrections, similarly is trying to pad industry profits and is currently considering giving a contract for 1,000 more unneeded beds to MTC or one of its equally incompetent but well connected competitors.
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