Cutbacks Responsible for Prison Breach?

State lawmakers want answers as to how a convicted killer could breach a secured prison to make his escape.  They're wondering now if budget cuts to the Corrections Department could be to blame.

Democratic State Senator Glenn Anderson of Westland near Detroit is leading the charge.  He says it was "foolish" for the state to scale back  perimeter patrols and eliminate guards in gun towers at the Ionia Correctional Facility.  Michael David Elliot is said to have cut through two fences--one that was electrified--and outsmarted a motion detector that should have sounded a warning of any prisoners on the grounds.  Both systems failed.

Anderson and others are wondering now if a posted guard in the tower could have prevented the escape.  Corrections department officials say they're working with the Snyder administration to determine what went wrong and why, but say they do not believe manpower was a component.