The Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- The Corrections Department has changed its story too many times in the past week on the June prison escape, according to the chairman of the House committee that overseas it.
Rep. David Welch, R-Kingston, chairman of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, said he wants to see the Corrections Department’s internal investigation of the June 4 escape at the New Hampshire State Prison to confirm his suspicions.
“Maybe the DOC doesn’t want to admit it has as big a heroin problem as it does inside the walls of the state prison. Maybe that’s why their story keeps changing and that’s why we haven’t seen that report,” Welch said.
Corrections officials have maintained that Robert King, a former inmate and informant on the escape, was returned to the Oregon correctional system because he was caught with heroin. King claimed he was bringing the drugs to a prison counselor, along with names, to expose an illegal drug ring.
However, this week a letter to King from Maj. Daniel Shaw, the prison’s chief of security, stated that the sole reason for the inmate’s transfer was because King’s life was in danger after it was revealed he tipped off corrections officers prior to the escape.
No action was taken on the tip. Three inmates escaped by cutting through two security fences surrounding a building trades area. They were captured a day later at a campground in Plymouth, Mass.
“It’s pretty obvious to us on the committee that the other inmates were yelling threats at this inmate after they learned he was the informant,” Welch said. “This was first and foremost a safety issue. I think the department doesn’t want to admit there are other problems there and that’s why the story from the DOC keeps changing.”
Last week, Attorney General Peter Heed said prosecutors reviewing investigative materials relating to the prison break did not redact King’s name in a Corrections Department report because he was not specifically identified as a confidential informant.
It is the policy of the attorney general’s office and the Corrections Department to blot out the names of informants in such reports.
The unedited document was then turned over to the attorney of recaptured escapee Philip Dick of Hampton during the criminal proceedings against Dick that resulted from the breakout.
Welch said corrections officials promised to give the committee a copy of their internal investigation report. However, he said, they have since refused on the basis that names of department personnel are included in the report.
Corrections Department spokesman Jeffrey Lyons confirmed on Wednesday that his department could not release the results of the internal investigation “because we want to protect the names and reputations of those named in the report,” he said.
Welch said any personnel issues are secondary to the circumstances of the escape.
“We want to see where the breakdowns in procedures and policies occurred,” he said.