<P> In the wake of the escape of three murderers from the minimum / medium security Kingman Prison, Arizona operated by Management and Training Corporation (MTC), and its gruesome aftermath, Arizona Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Terry Goddard said "I believe a big part of our problem is that the very violent inmates, like the three that escaped, ended up getting reclassified (as a lower risk) quickly and sent to private prisons that were just not up to the job". The private prison had inadequate patrols and prisoner movement, excessive false alarms, a lax culture, and inconsistencies in visitor screening procedures . </P> <P> One escaping murderer, Daniel Renwick, immediately absconded with the intended getaway vehicle, abandoning his companions outside the prison . He was involved in a shootout in Rifle, Colorado, about 30 hours after the prison break, and was captured by a Garfield County deputy and Rifle police . Though he still "owed" Arizona 32 years on his sentence, he was sentenced to sixty years to be served first in Colorado . </P> <P> In the course of evading pursuers, the remaining two escapees and their accomplice, Casslyn Welch, kidnapped and hijacked vacationing Oklahomans Gary and Linda Haas in New Mexico . The couple was soon murdered by the ringleader, John McCluskey . The extended family of the murdered couple sued the state of Arizona, as well as Dominion, a corporation based in Edmond, Oklahoma, that spec - built the prison, and MTC, the corporation that managed it, for $40 million . The last escapees and their accomplice were soon captured . Tracy Province, a lifer, was apprehended in Wyoming on August 9 . The final pair were arrested on August 19, 20 days after the jailbreak, upon their return to Arizona . All three were first convicted of the escapes, initial hijacking, kidnappings and robberies in Kingman, Arizona . Then they were charged with the same crimes plus murder in New Mexico . John McCluskey, the ringleader, and his accomplice, Casslyn Welch, were also alleged to have committed an armed robbery in Arkansas . The three were eventually held on federal murder charges in New Mexico . McCluskey was tried on death penalty charges but after five months of court proceedings, his jury gave him life imprisonment on December 11, 2013 . Estimates of the costs of the nationwide searches as well as the apprehensions, prosecutions and subsequent imprisonment in the three states greatly exceed a million dollars . </P> <P> Studies, some partially industry - funded, often conclude that states can save money by using for - profit prisons . However, academic or state - funded studies have found that private prisons tend to keep more low - cost inmates and send others back to state - run prisons . </P>

What percentage of prisons in the us are privately owned