Leavenworth ? A prison volunteer who helped a murderer escape from the Lansing Correctional Facility continues to profess her love for the man and has found ways to communicate with him, federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors cited those actions by Toby Young in a motion filed Friday seeking a longer prison term than that required by sentencing guidelines when she is sentenced later this month for knowingly providing a firearm to a felon.

Young helped John M. Manard escape from Lansing in February 2006 by hiding him inside a dog crate in the van she used for a dog-training program at the prison. They were captured two weeks later in Tennessee.

In a motion filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., Assistant U.S. Attorney Terra D. Morehead asked the judge to impose a five-year sentence on Young, rather than the six months suggested by sentencing guidelines.

Young pleaded guilty in March to the federal charge of providing a firearm to a felon.

Prosecutors say Young has repeatedly tried to mitigate her role in the escape. They also say that Young still says she loves Manard and “has used stealth in order to communicate with him.”

“A sentence of 60 months imprisonment is appropriate in this case based upon the egregious nature of Young’s criminal acts, which should not be tolerated and should be treated with a more severe punishment than the guidelines allow for,” according to the motion.

Young already is serving a 21-month prison term after pleading guilty in Leavenworth County District Court to aiding and abetting aggravated prison escape and introducing contraband into the prison.

Manard, formerly of Edgerton, escaped while serving a life sentence for first-degree murder in the 1996 shooting death of Donald England at an Overland Park strip mall.