Personal Injury Law

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Blames Prison for Murderous Escapees

By guest-writer

Murder at the hands of escaped convicts is extremely rare, but the haunting image of murderous escapees often appears in popular books and films. Such an event, however, recently occurred in New Mexico.

This week, the family of a couple allegedly murdered by prisoners who had escaped from a private detention facility in Arizona filed a personal injury lawsuit against the prison.

According to sources, the murder took place in 2010, when Gary and Linda Haas, an Oklahoma couple, were shot to death and set on fire in their mobile trailer during a camping trip.

Days later, a rancher found their bodies in a smoldering trailer. A few days earlier, three inmates had escaped from a privately operated prison near Kingman, Arizona.

Investigators at the scene of the crime quickly connected the murders to the escaped convicts, and the rancher?s discovery led to a national manhunt for the escaped convicts.

A few days later, one convict, Tracy Province, was caught in Wyoming, while the other two escapees, John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch, were arrested a week later in Arizona.

This week, Cathy Byus, the surviving daughter of Gary and Linda Hass, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against both the company that operated the prison and the builders of the prison?s facilities.

The lawsuit, which seeks roughly $40 million in damages, alleges that the companies committed gross negligence for failing to fix security flaws that had occurred for several years and helped the alleged murderers escape the facility.

After the prisoners? escape, a review by the Arizona Department of Corrections found several flaws in the security system, including a faulty alarm system that prison employees often ignored because it was so unreliable.

On the night of the escape, investigators believe that one of the prisoners escaped the prison?s walls and used wire cutters to cut the fence surrounding the facility. This allowed the other prisoners to swiftly escape.

According to reports, the prison?s employees ignored the alarm that was set off as a result of the prisoners? movements, and the prison did not report the incident to state authorities until two hours after the escape.

The prisoners? left a wake of destruction in their path, allegedly hijacking a truck and exchanging gunfire with police before the fateful incident in the Hasses? trailer.

This incident has raised a number of issues related to state oversight of private prisons. As the country continues to imprison more and more people, states are running out of room and turning to private companies to provide extra prison space.

Beyond the issue of private prisons, wrongful death claims often arise from the negligence of a party that was not directly involved with the crime.

If someone you love has passed away due to another person?s negligence, learn about your legal rights by contacting a local injury attorney.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on March 28, 2011 (boomark / email).