Oregon Public Broadcasting

Two convicted murderers from Washington escaped Monday from a private prison in Arizona. One was quickly captured. The other -- 37-year-old Roy Townsend -- is still on the lam. Olympia correspondent Austin Jenkins has reaction from the father of Townsend’s victim.

It never occurred to Larry Harkins that the man who murdered his son could escape prison. But that’s exactly what’s happened.

Larry Harkins: “Well, I’ll tell you it makes you think you’re right back at square one where we started 10-years ago hunting for Roy Townsend because that’s just what we were doing 10- years ago was hunting for Roy Townsend after he killed my son.”

Townsend shot Gerald Harkins in Mason County in 1996. Early Monday morning, Townsend and a fellow inmate apparently overpowered a guard, then used ladders to climb over two razor-wire lined fences.

A Washington prison official called Gerald Harkin’s father with the news.

Larry Harkins: “It’s not a good thought to have him out here running around knowing that he could be heading right back to Mason County. That’s where he came from.”

Townsend is among a thousand-plus Washington inmates who are housed out of state. Florence is a medium security prison run by Corrections Corporation of America.