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| TransCor gets billed for inmate escape |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/27/2004 |
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The company responsible for four maximum-security inmates who escaped in Helena, Montana earlier this month will be asked to pay $23,516 to cover the state and local government costs of recapturing them. In a letter to TransCor America last week, the state Department of Corrections submitted a bill for $21,708. That was the expense incurred by the Helena Police Department, Lewis and Clark County sheriff's office, Montana Highway Patrol, the state Criminal Investigation Bureau, Lewis and Clark County Search and Rescue, and the American Red Cross. Joe Williams, head of the centralized services for the department, said last Wednesday his agency will send a separate bill for $1,808 to the Nashville-based company. Patrick McKinney, TransCor president and chief executive officer, did not return a phone message left at his office. However, the state's inmate transportation contract with TransCor makes the company responsible for "all costs related to the security, care and transportation of inmates in the custody of the contractor or its agents." Williams said TransCor officials also have assured the state they will pay for the costs associated with the Sept. 2 incident. The four inmates, three of them convicted murderers, were among six being transported from the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby to the Montana State Prison at Deer Lodge when the TransCor van stopped at a Helena restaurant for food. Four men broke out of the van and two were nabbed quickly. The other two were captured within the next eight hours after an intensive manhunt in a residential neighborhood. The state immediately suspended the $311,000-per-year contract with TransCor and demanded tighter security measures for movement of inmates. The company complied and has since resumed work. Officials have refused to say how the inmates were able to unlock their handcuffs and leg shackles without a key. |
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