Singleton Finally Finds a Home--San Quentin : In Unprecedented Action, Deukmejian Orders Officers to House Rapist on Grounds of Prison

Frustrated by the month-long refusal of Northern California communities to accept mutilation-rapist Lawrence Singleton for parole, Gov. George Deukmejian on Saturday took the unprecedented step of finding a home for the despised ex-convict--at San Quentin Prison.

The governor, who had drawn fire from some local officials for his alleged failure to take an active role in securing a parole site for Singleton, said the parolee will not be locked up, but will be housed on the prison grounds under 24-hour watch of parole agents and “wherever he goes, he will be accompanied by these agents.”

“With the placement of Singleton on the site of a state correctional facility, a safe distance from other communities, and with around-the-clock parole supervision, we will provide maximum public protection, under the law,” the governor said in his weekly radio and television message.

‘Unprecedented’ Action

The governor’s office said Deukmejian’s action of directing that a parolee be housed at a prison setting was “definitely unprecedented” in California and was taken both for the protection of Singleton and the public.

Singleton, 59, a former merchant seaman, was convicted of the 1978 kidnap, rape and attempted murder of 15-year-old Mary Vincent. He picked her up in a van near Berkeley and drove to a lonely spot near Modesto where he raped her, chopped off her forearms with an ax and left her to bleed to death in a ditch.

She survived and later testified against him in court. He was paroled April 25 after serving eight years of a 14-year term, an action that touched off a firestorm of public outrage when state authorities tried to place him in several San Francisco Bay Area communities to serve 11 months on parole.

Community opposition, which included an angry street demonstration led by local politicians in Rodeo, kept Singleton and parole agents on the move in a strange odyssey from city to city as state Department of Corrections officials sought a parole refuge for him.

“Understandably, no community wants Singleton, and yet he must be placed somewhere,” Deukmejian said in obvious reference to the protests. “I call upon all public officers and law-abiding citizens to understand that they must set a good example and that mob rule has no place in our society.”

Previously, Singleton had rejected suggestions that he return to prison, insisting that he is innocent of the crime and that to do so would be to admit guilt. However, spokesman Robert Gore of the Department of Corrections said Singleton has been “very scared and when he was offered the chance (at San Quentin), he consented readily.”

Singleton checked in at the prison about 5 a.m. Saturday. Efforts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful. “He doesn’t have a telephone,” a prison official said.

The Department of Corrections estimated that it cost the taxpayers about $3,800 a day in administrative costs, food, lodging, transportation, the salaries of his parole agent escorts and other costs to keep Singleton on the move. Gore said these costs now are likely to decline.

May Live in Trailer

Gore declined to specify what housing arrangements were established for the parolee, other than to say that they were “special.” But another source indicated that his housing probably involves a trailer home.

Gore said the families of about 100 prison staff members live on the site, but their living area will be “out of bounds to him and his special housing will be out of bounds to them.”

He said Singleton “has the same rights as any resident, subject to his parole restrictions,” adding that he would have no contact with San Quentin inmates and “won’t be able to leave the immediate housing area.”

Although Singleton is not in custody, Gore said he must observe a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and if he ventures off the prison grounds he will be accompanied by parole agents.

“His is a very high-profile case,” Gore said. “In order to protect the public, he will be escorted for an indefinite period.”

May Seek a Job

Singleton will be able to receive visitors, who first must check in with prison authorities, Gore said, and will be assisted in seeking employment if he wants a job inside or outside the prison walls.

Those who had most vehemently opposed efforts to place Singleton in suburban Bay Area communities were quick to praise Deukmejian’s announcement of the move to San Quentin.

“I think it’s excellent,” said Contra Costa County Supervisor Nancy Fahden. “My constituents have been calling all day and they are very, very grateful to the governor for interceding.”

Fahden, who said that Singleton had rejected a proposal by her that he reside in a minimum-security prison elsewhere in the state, said Deukmejian’s announcement appeared to end the greatest public outcry in memory in Contra Costa County.

“It was tremendously emotional,” she said. “I have never in the history of this county seen anything like this.”

Cites ‘Barbaric Acts’

In his broadcast, Deukmejian, who built a reputation as a law-and-order legislator, attorney general and governor, said he believes “that by his barbaric acts, Lawrence Singleton forfeited his right to ever again live in civilized society.”

However, the governor noted that the law in effect in 1978, since revised, did not provide for a life sentence. He noted that Singleton received the maximum possible sentence at the time, which Deukmejian termed “insufficient.” The term was subsequently whittled down by Singleton’s good behavior behind bars and his participation in work programs.

Deukmejian seized on the Singleton controversy to once again push for new criminal justice laws.

He called for enactment of a proposed constitutional amendment pending in the state Senate that would empower the governor to rescind the scheduled parole of a convict whose freedom would pose an “unreasonable threat” to the public safety. Similar proposals have failed in the past.

The governor also urged full legislative approval of a Senate bill that would create the new crime of “aggravated mayhem” which would be punishable by a term of life in prison but with the possibility of parole. That measure was approved by the state Senate on Thursday and sent to the Assembly.

Times staff writer William Overend contributed to this article.