Warden, other employees resign from prison in escape fallout

KINGMAN, Ariz. -- Key personnel have resigned their posts at a privately operated state prison where three dangerous inmates escaped last month. The Management & Training Corporation, which houses 3,500 minimum- and medium-security inmates at the Arizona State Prison-Kingman, confirmed the departures Friday.

"MTC accepted the resignation of Warden Lori Lieder and her unit's chief of security this week," MTC spokesman Carl Stuart said. Lieder and the security chief were administrators at the Hualapai Unit, the medium security wing of the complex from which the inmates made their July 30 getaway.

Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan said he has directed changes and upgrades in security and operations protocols at the prison. Increased perimeter patrols and increased control and restriction of inmate movement within the units are among his directives. MTC operates 11 private prisons, including two in Arizona.

Two convicted killers who escaped from the facility have been recaptured, but John McCluskey, convicted of attempted murder and other charges, and fiancee Casslyn Welch remain at large.

Welch was detained after trying to bring heroin into the prison six weeks before the escape. Police reports show Welch admitted she had delivered heroin to the facility on three prior occasions, picking up the drugs from two men in Phoenix she believed were members of the Aryan Brotherhood.

Jamie Clark, supervisor of a Kingman-based narcotics task force, confirmed Friday that Welch had agreed to serve as an informant in the prison drug smuggling investigation to avoid being charged. State and federal authorities said she instead returned to the facility and supplied a getaway vehicle, cash, clothes, weapons and a tool the inmates used to cut through fences and escape.