McCluskey's mom charged in prison break

PHOENIX (AP) - The mother of one of three inmates who escaped from a prison near Kingman, Ariz., last July faces up to 2 1/2 years in prison after admitting she provided assistance to her son following the escape.

The Attorney General's Office says 68-year-old Claudia Mae Washburn of Payson pleaded guilty to a felony charge of hindering prosecution and will be sentenced Jan. 7 in Maricopa County Superior Court.

The office says Washburn admitted providing money to her son, John McCluskey, through an intermediary and that she knew her son had escaped from prison and that the money would be used to help him flee from law enforcement.

All three escaped convicts have been recaptured.

(McCluskey, his girlfriend Casslyn Welch and inmate Tracy Province face federal murder charges in New Mexico in the deaths of a vacationing Oklahoma couple killed shortly after the escape.  A third inmate split from the trio before the murders and was recaptured separately.)