Mother of man allegedly slain by prison escapee files claim in Phoenix

PHOENIX - The mother of a man believed to have been killed by Arizona prison escapees is filing a wrongful death claim.

Vivian Haas is filing the suit that claims lax procedures and incompetent management of the facility where they were being held is responsible for her son and daughter-in-law’s deaths.

Management Training Corporation runs the prison near Kingman.

On July 30, John McCluskey, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick escaped with the help of McCluskey’s fiancée and cousin Casslyn Welch, according to authorities.

Days later Gary and Linda Haas were found shot to death in their camping trailer in New Mexico. McCluskey, Province and Welch all face charges for their murders.

The complaint outlines several issues at the facility that were discovered in a review of the prison. The results of that review were made public on August 20, just hours before McCluskey and Welch were arrested in eastern Arizona.

The report showed a history of problems at the facility including burnt out lights around the perimeter, alarms malfunctioning and inadequate training of the staff.

Those examples are spelled out in Haas’ claim noting too that MTC took full responsibility for the escape.

A claim was also filed against the State of Arizona and the Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Charles Ryan. It claims that, "Due to repeated and egregious errors, the inmates were allowed to breach prison security, escape and elude captors for several weeks."

That claim was filed for $10 million.