The move was made when it was determined that it would be less costly to update the security at the Hiawatha facility than the original prison.

The original facility was larger and held more inmates but had been converted from Air Force barracks in 1978, whereas Hiawatha was purposely built as a prison.

The plot was only discovered in March 2007, after the tunnel had been completed but the escape had to be delayed in order to find a getaway driver.

[6] On July 15, 2010, Three inmates, all men convicted of mass murders, hijacked a supply truck at the prison and attempted to escape from the original facility by breaking it through a fence.

Seth Privacky, in prison for the murder of five members of his family, was shot and killed by guards as he attempted to flee the truck.

There is vocational training available in auto repair, construction, custodial maintenance, business education technology, and horticulture.