The Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. – Another Oregon inmate escaped from an out-ofstate prison run by Corrections Corporation of America – this time in Arizona – but Oregon prison officials say they still have faith in the company.
“We’re confident that this incident won’t harm their reputation,” said Oregon Department of Corrections spokeswoman Perrin Damon. “It’s a very secure facility.”
Kelly Antonio Chavez scaled a razor-wire fence late Friday or early Saturday at the Florence, Ariz., prison, but was captured by Saturday afternoon, Damon said.
It was that prison’s first escape in 25 years. About 1,000 Oregon inmates are housed there.
In early August, two Oregon sex offenders escaped from a Houston prison also run by Corrections Corporation. They later were caught in another Texas town, but public outcry led Oregon to transfer its 239 inmates from the Houston prison.
Chavez was serving a sentence for robbery and kidnapping. He was sentenced in Polk County in 1990, and was expected to be released August 1998.