[CAPTURED 10-17-07]Washington State Inmates Escape From Private Arizona Prison

[Greg]

Police searching for escaped Wash. murderer | KOMO-TV - Seattle, Washington | News



Police searching for escaped Wash. murderer

Orange ladders used by Kollin Folsom and Roy Townsend to scale the prison fence are seen in this image taken from a helicopter.

Story Updated: Sep 17, 2007 at 4:30 PM PDT
By KOMO Staff

FLORENCE, Ariz. -- Authorities here are looking for one of two convicted murderers from Washington state who escaped from prison early Monday morning.

Florence Correctional Center spokesman Charles Goldsmith said Kollin Folsom and Roy Townsend escaped from the prison at about 1 a.m.

Detective Walt Hunter said Fulsom was later found in a two-story building about a mile south of Florence.


Kollin Folsom, left, and Roy Townsend are seen in booking photos provided by the Florence Correctional Center.

Townsend remains at large and officials said a "full-scale" search for Townsend is under way.

Both inmates were assigned to an evening cleaning crew and attacked and tied down a guard, Goldsmith said.

The two men then used ladders from a maintenance room to get onto the jail roof and jump the set of barbed-wire fencing.

Folsom, 24, was convicted of first-degree murder for the November 1999 stabbing death of Clinton Williams, his girlfriend's father, in Washougal, Wash.

Townsend, 37, was convicted in 1996 of arson and murder in the shooting death of 18-year-old Gerald Harkins.

Detectives found the Shelton High School student's body dumped in the woods in Mason County two weeks after the murder.

Police in Arizona on Monday found prison clothing on the ground right outside the fence, and hope tracking dogs will lead them to Townsend.

[Greg]

If you watch the video that can be found at the link to the original article, one of the things you will notice is that the ladder on the interior fence is set up with a security camera pointing right at it.

Security cameras and fence alarms are often used by management as reasons towers can be shut down or eliminated. Washington State has been trying off and on for years to shut down towers to save on staffing. In 1998, most of the towers were shut down at night leaving a section of the fence protected only by a fence alarm. It took until December of 1999 before anybody escaped. When the escape occurred, it took place between two unmanned towers.

More recently, WA DOC has wanted to shut down many of the perimeter posts at Washington Corrections Center in Shelton. They are relying on a fence alarm and security cameras to prevent an escape if they ever go through with this. The video of the ladders is priceless, with one of the ladders set in full view of one of the security cameras.

This escape is even better ammunition to use as evidence that non-human security measures are easily defeated because of the fact that the inmate remaining at large committed his crime in Mason County, Washington. Washington Corrections Center is located in Mason County.

[robeans]

Also noted is that this was a Corrections Corporation of America prison that they escaped from.

[Von Nanega]

LADDERS!!!! No body noticed a couple of thugs running away with big assed ORANGE ladders?!?!?!?!?!

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Von Nanega

LADDERS!!!! No body noticed a couple of thugs running away with big assed ORANGE ladders?!?!?!?!?!

They probably weren't staffing the post that monitors the video cameras in order to save money or because they can't hire enough staff at their starvation wages.

I think there's a lot more to this story that is not making the news media. It will be interesting to see the report on this when it comes out months from now. Washington DOC will have to do a report on the escape because they are our inmates...just as WA DOC had to when OUR inmates rioted after being transferred to a Colorado CCA prison. Of course, only the "good" inmates are transferred out of state.

[Greg]

Here's an update to the story:


Police search for Washington murderer | Seattle Times Article

By Christina Siderius

Seattle Times staff reporter
Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - Page updated at 02:10 AM


Escapee Roy Townsend

A convicted murderer from Washington state is still at large after he and another inmate broke out of a Florence, Ariz., prison early Monday morning.

Law-enforcement agencies today are using "every resource available" to track down 37-year-old Roy Townsend, said Detective Walt Hunter of the Florence Police Department.

Hunter said patrol teams, air surveillance crews and K-9 tracking dogs are hunting for Townsend.

"As soon as we found out about [the escape], we started notifying every agency we could to help with this search," said Hunter. "We have to play every angle to get this guy."

Townsend escaped from Florence Correctional Center shortly after 1:30 a.m. Monday, along with 24-year-old Kollin Folsom, a convicted murderer who is also from Washington. Folsom was captured about six hours later in a field three miles away.

While working on the night cleaning crew, the two men tied up a correctional officer and took ladders from the maintenance room, according to the Corrections Corp. of America, which owns and operates the prison.

They used the ladders to get onto the roof, eventually escaping over the prison's fences.

Hunter said the prison is surrounded by desert, and law officials are uncertain if Townsend had arranged plans for transportation.

Townsend, who used to live in Bremerton, was sentenced to 66 years for arson, theft and the murder of an 18-year-old in Mason County more than a decade ago.

Folsom was sentenced to 50 years for killing his girlfriend's father with a machete in Washougal, Clark County, in 1999. Folsom has returned to the prison but is being held in an isolated unit.

Due to overcrowding in Washington state prisons, both Townsend and Folsom had been sent to a prison in Nevada and were later moved to the Arizona facility, officials from the state Department of Corrections said.

Seattle Times researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

[robeans]

Originally Posted by Watchman63

Due to overcrowding in Washington state prisons, both Townsend and Folsom had been sent to a prison in Nevada and were later moved to the Arizona facility, officials from the state Department of Corrections said.

Call me crazy, but I suspect as soon as they catch this guy, I'll be seeing him soon after. I havne't heard if the other yahoo is back here or not. Either way, we have a shinny new Intensive Management Unit they can live in.

[latinluck01]

Do they not realize how stupid it is to keep those size ladders inside a prison?????

[AZCorrections84]

Thank god it was CCA and not the State DOC, ha! That prison is right down the road from the Complex/unit that I work at.

But really, I hope they catch that cockroach.

[Greg]

Article on the escaped convict who is still at-large:

Shelton father grieves again after son's killer escapes | King5 News | Seattle

10:52 PM PDT on Monday, September 17, 2007

By ELISA HAHN / KING 5 News


Roy Townsend escaped from an Arizona prison Monday along with another convicted killer from Washington who was later captured.

SHELTON, Wash. – One of two convicted killers from Washington state is still on the loose after both men escaped from a private prison in Florence, Ariz. after attacking a jail guard.

One of the victim's families says the news brings back painful memories.

"They told me that Roy Townsend had escaped from prison in Arizona this morning," said Larry Harkins.

In 1996, Larry's son Gerald, a Shelton High School senior, disappeared along with his truck.

Two weeks later, Larry got a mysterious phone call from a man in jail who eventually led him to Gerald's body and his burnt out truck near Lake Cushman.

"It's what I had to do. Looking back, I was glad I was able to do that. It's hard, hard going back there," said Larry.

Roy Townsend was tried and convicted of arson and murder. He was sentenced to 66 years in prison.

Those painful wounds were reopened when Larry got a call from the department of corrections.

"I just couldn't imagine he could escape, you know?" said Larry.

Arizona authorities say Townsend and another convicted killer from Washington, Kollin Folsom, were working on a cleaning crew when they attacked a guard, tied him down, climbed a fence and fled.

Folsom was caught a short time later, but Townsend is still at large.

"It just brings up everything. all the old memories and what you had to go through, and you shouldn't have to do that twice," said Larry.

Harkins is not worried about his family's safety. He says the one good thing is that Townsend will likely get a longer prison sentence once he is caught.

"They'll catch him. There's no doubt in my mind that they'll catch him, whether it'll be today or a week down the road, they'll catch him," said Larry.

Folsom was convicted of murdering his girlfriend's father in Washougal, Wash. in 1999.