Copter Lifts 3 From N.M. Prison Yard; 2 Recaptured

A helicopter plucked two convicted murderers and a thief from a state prison yard under fire from guards today, but the chopper was forced down and two people still aboard were captured after an 80-mile aerial chase, officials said, while one inmate dropped off earlier was seized and another fled.

The helicopter flew into the Penitentiary of New Mexico about 9:50 a.m. and picked up the three inmates, said Don Caviness, a spokesman for the New Mexico Corrections Department.

It flew to Los Lunas, about 80 miles south of here, where it unloaded two inmates and took off again, said Ronni Crago, spokeswoman for the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department.

One of those inmates was wounded and captured in a gun battle at Mid-Valley Airport in Los Lunas but the other fled and is being hunted, Crago said.

100 Inmates in Yard

The chopper was then chased across the Albuquerque area by a U.S. Customs Service helicopter and other aircraft and forced down at Albuquerque International Airport. Two people were taken into custody at the airport, authorities said.

Caviness said about 100 inmates were in the prison recreation yard at the time of the escape. He said guards opened fire from two towers but he didn’t know whether the helicopter was hit.

The penitentiary was immediately locked down and a head count was taken to determine who escaped, Caviness said.

The inmates were identified as Daniel Mahoney, 30, serving life plus 60 years for second-degree murder and armed robbery in Florida; Francis Preston Mitchell, 26, serving life for first-degree murder in Utah, and Randy Mack Lackey, 19, of Curry County, N.M., serving a nine-year sentence for larceny.

Interstate Compact

Mahoney and Mitchell were being held under an interstate compact that provides for exchange of prisoners. Caviness said Lackey was a helicopter pilot and was wounded in the gun battle at Los Lunas.

In a previous helicopter escape in November, 1986, a woman serving time for bank robbery was snatched from the yard of a federal prison at Dublin, Calif., by her lover. The couple were caught 10 days later in a shopping mall while picking up a set of wedding rings.

That escape prompted federal prison officials around the country to build “chopper stoppers,” massive wire grids covering prison yards and other open areas. About 20 of 47 federal prisons had such barriers in place or under construction by the end of 1986, the federal Bureau of Prisons said.