Escapes Add to Concerns for Sheriff

The number of inmates escaping from Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department custody has doubled over the last two years, and prosecutors are alarmed that sheriff’s officials have no formal policy to notify them when an inmate gets away.

Sheriff’s officials say that the escapes -- 20 so far this year -- are not a crisis given that the department handles up to 20,000 inmates a day. But the department’s independent monitor said the escapes, along with an additional 23 inmates released by accident and the continued killings of inmates within the jails, are evidence that the department has trouble maintaining control of its huge inmate population.

“The number of inmate-on-inmate deaths, escapes, clerical mistakes that lead to release, I think it confirms that the Sheriff’s Department as a whole has lost ground in its ability to manage the jails,” said Merrick Bobb, the Los Angeles attorney hired by the Board of Supervisors as an independent monitor of the Sheriff’s Department.

Inmates have slipped away from sheriff’s stations, jail work details and courthouse holding facilities. One recently escaped by stealing the identification wristband of an inmate scheduled for release the same day. Last year, an inmate escaped during a doctor’s visit while the deputy assigned to guard him worked on one of the hospital’s computers.

Four of this year’s escapees remain at large, including the one who allegedly stole another inmate’s wristband in a courthouse holding area and stepped into a line of inmates due for release the same day. The escapee, Kristin Bryant, had been charged with robbery and a parole violation. Deputies recaptured the other 16.

The Sheriff’s Department mistakenly released 23 other inmates because of clerical errors, and one is still free, according to sheriff’s records. Those released by accident this year faced charges of narcotics possession, car theft, assault with a deadly weapon, failure to register as a sex offender and threatening a witness. The missing suspect is Alejandro Gonzales, who was released while being held on charges of driving under the influence.

Last week, two inmates allegedly beat and stomped an inmate to death while they were locked unsupervised in a holding room at the downtown Men’s Central Jail. The killing was the eighth homicide in the jail in the last two years.

Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said he doesn’t know how many times the sheriff has failed to alert him that an inmate escaped. Cooley said he only learned of the Bryant escape from a radio news show.

“Having no written policy on telling victims and prosecutors about an escape means it is not worth the paper it is not written on,” Cooley said. “Lives are at stake here. Some people are bent upon retaliation, be it against the investigating officers, the prosecutor, the victims or witnesses.”

Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for Sheriff Lee Baca, said the department policy is to reports jail escapes to judges, who issue warrants for the fugitives’ arrests. Even though prosecutors learn of the escapes when the warrants are issued, the Sheriff’s Department plans to add prosecutors to the list of people who are informed of escapes because “it’s the right thing to do,” Whitmore said.

“All of us, the district attorney, the sheriff, everybody, wants one thing: to put this person safely back behind bars and as quickly and as safely and expeditiously as possible,” Whitmore said.

The bench warrant for Bryant’s arrest for escape was issued Friday, 10 days after he fled.

Michael Gennaco, chief of the sheriff’s Office of Independent Review, said he was particularly concerned about the inmate who escaped by wearing another inmate’s wristband. In 2004, an inmate used another inmate’s wristband to gain access to a witness against him, whom he allegedly killed.

“It is incumbent upon the department to make sure they learn from their mistakes,” Gennaco said.

In an annual report released last week, Gennaco noted that the Sheriff’s Department has an enormous responsibility, detaining as many as 20,000 inmates per day, with many of them on the move to and from court. The department houses more inmates than any local jail system in the country.

Sheriff’s officials in the past have said they have difficulty managing the jails because of a shortfall of deputies. Whitmore said the department currently employs 7,800 deputies, but would like to reach 10,000.

Given the high inmate count, the number of escapes is not a sign of a huge problem, Whitmore added. Most of the escapees were low-level inmates who walked away from their jobs as inmate workers.

“Given that we have 200,000 inmates annually ... that is an amazing record,” Whitmore said. “Obviously one is too many. Can we do better? Yes.”

Still, the numbers worried the Office of Independent Review, which suggested that the department study each escape and consider discipline and policy changes to prevent recurrences.

Since 2000, 116 inmates have escaped from sheriff’s custody, according to statistics compiled by Sheriff’s Capt. Steve Johnson, who supervises a unit that tracks down escapees. After reaching a high of 30 in 2002, the number of escaped inmates dipped to 10 in 2003, 17 in 2004 and 20 this year.

Gennaco said it’s more important than ever for the department to prevent inmate escapes because the jail population has a higher proportion of violent and serious criminals than in the past. For budgetary reasons, the sheriff releases many inmates charged with nonviolent crimes before they serve their full sentences.

A 19-year-old inmate escaped in October 2004 during a visit to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia, where he was taken after he was injured in a fight. The inmate said he noticed the deputy was working on a computer, so he gathered up his belongings and left the hospital, Gennaco said in the report.

The inmate attacked a resident of a nearby home before he was rearrested later that day.

Among the escapees who remain at large is Bairon Perez, one of two inmates who walked away from laundry jobs within a week. Officials said the department is constructing a fence around the Castaic facility that Perez, a convicted drug dealer, fled.

John Waskom escaped from the Beverly Hills courthouse’s holding cells Oct. 21 because of a malfunctioning lock on the cell door, Johnson said. Waskom, who was being held on multiple drug possession charges, was captured the next day with his luggage and passport in hand as he was about to flee the country, Johnson said.

Another escapee was Alonzo F. Taylor. He walked out of the downtown Criminal Courts Building on May 3 while facing a kidnapping charge and a possible life sentence. He was arrested a week later in Atlanta.

Johnson said the department has a strong record of tracking down and rearresting escapees. Of the 116 who have escaped since 2000, all but nine have been recaptured.

“We captured 16 out of 20 escapees this year. That is a phenomenal number,” Johnson said.

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Wanted for escape

Four men remain fugitives:

* Kenny Fuyu Miao, 25, who was convicted of narcotics possession, walked away from his assignment as an inmate worker at the City of Industry sheriff’s station Jan. 19. Miao, who has also been convicted of theft, is now wanted for escaping from custody.

* Bairon Perez, 34, escaped July 19 from the Pitchess Detention Center North Facility just prior to his transfer to state prison to serve three years for sale and transportation of narcotics. Assigned to the facility’s laundry area, he apparently fled in a car whose driver had been waiting for him.

* Oscar Mendez, 28, escaped from the Compton sheriff’s station Sept. 19 while on assignment as an inmate worker. He was convicted of car theft and is now facing an additional escape charge.

* Kristin Bryant, 31, escaped from the downtown Criminal Courts Building on Nov. 8 after forcing an inmate scheduled for release to swap identity wristbands. Bryant, a second-strike offender, was arrested Nov. 4 on charges of robbing a person at gunpoint in South Los Angeles. He now faces charges of escape, robbery and criminal threats.