Quote Originally Posted by Auragaea
Nope. And why would the government go to such extremes to capture a bank robber (who didn't steal jack), a robber (who only took a little money for his girlfriend), a murderer (who was on the path to repentence), and a... well whatever, I know he was in the army and didn't want to do something. Anyway, it's quite retarded for the government to go to such lengths to capture them. Well, maybe it's smarter to capture the murderer but everone else is not really a threat.
There may be some minor spoilers here, but I'm too lazy to put up tags.

The media would destroy any prison that allowed the escape and didn't pursue the criminals. Plus, seeing as how Michael tied up the warden and they knocked out and tied up a guard in a pipe underground, they're obviously not just going to let them go. The warden and Bellick are pissed, and aren't about to let them get away with it. Plus, seeing as it's, y'know, against the law, and they haven't served their respective sentences, they're obviously going to be chased down.