The last of the three inmates who escaped from a private prison near Kingman three weeks ago was captured Thursday night along with the woman who helped then break out.

Capitol Media Services photo by Howard Fischer State Corrections Director Charles Ryan details Thursday how malfunctioning equipment and poor security policies at the privately run prison in Kingman allowed three dangerous inmates to escape through a hole they cut in the fence. Ryan has ordered a series of changes but said that private prisons are not necessarily bad.

John McCluskey, who was serving a 15-year sentence for second-degree murder, was captured near his tent at the Gabaldon Campground at the edge of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, near Springerville. Also apprehended was Caslyn Welch, his cousin and finance.

David Gonzales, the U.S. Marshal for Arizona, said Welch drew a gun tucked in the back of her belt when the pair was approached by members of the Apache County Sheriff's Department SWAT and other law enforcement about 7 p.m. But Gonzales said the officers outdrew her and she dropped the weapon.

He also said that McCluskey, who was reclining on a sleeping bad outside the tent, admitted he had a weapon of his own inside and would have killed the officers had he been able to get it. In fact, Gonzales related, McCluskey said that, in retrospect, he should have killed the U.S. Forest Service ranger who had bumped into the pair about two hours earlier.

Gonzales credited that the ranger with identifying the pair who have been on the run since July 30. They also are believed connected with the death earlier this month of an Oklahoma couple who were slain while camping near Santa Rosa, N.M.

According to Gonzales, the ranger, who was not identified, was checking out an untended fire. He said the ranger initially found no one around.

But the ranger did find a vehicle partly hidden in the trees.

Suspicious, he checked the number on the Texas license plate and learned the vehicle had been stolen from New Mexico about the time of the murder of the Oklahoma couple.

Gonzales said the ranger did eventually come into contact with the man later identified as McCluskey. That man, Gonzales said, was "acting very nervous, very jittery.''

The circumstances of the stolen vehicle and the nervous camper, Gonzales said, caused the ranger to find the "wanted'' poster from the U.S. Marshal's Office. When he matched the photos, Gonzales said, the ranger called for assistance.

Gonzales said that, given the remote area, a decision was made to have the Apache County Sheriff's Office SWAT team surround the site and wait until close to dark. He said they did not move until it was clear that both were outside the tent where they could be apprehended more easily.

The pair were booked into the county jail in St. Johns.

Still to be determined is where they will go next.

Gonzales said the campsite is still being examined for clues as to any crimes they committed while on the run, including that Santa Rosa murder. He said if there is a confirmed link, authorities in that state may want to try the pair for murder rather than having them go on trial in Mohave County for escape.

The other two escapees, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick, had been captured earlier.