Data Sought on Landon’s Alleged Jailbreak Ties

Acting on a request from Assemblyman Larry Stirling, a legislative committee has subpoenaed the Department of Corrections to provide confidential records on the alleged involvement of San Diego defense lawyer Alex Landon in the escape of an inmate near the state prison at Chino more than 15 years ago.

Stirling, a San Diego Republican, said he wants to clear the record on the incident because Landon, who will head the county’s new privately run program to provide defense attorneys for indigents, is still banned from entering state prisons under an order issued in 1973 by then-Corrections Director R.K. Procunier.

Procunier banned Landon from the state institutions after concluding that he had smuggled hacksaw blades to a Chino inmate and twice carried escape plans out of the prison.

Landon was never prosecuted in connection with the escape, during which a corrections officer was killed after a car in which the inmate was being transported was forced off the road.

Involvement Denied

Landon, who denies any involvement in the escape, said Tuesday that he expects the file to contain nothing more than the testimony of the inmate, Ronald Beaty. Beaty implicated Landon while testifying in the murder trial of one of the people who helped him escape.

The subpoena, issued by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Prison Construction and Operations, orders Corrections Department Director James Rowland to turn over “any and all written documents, pleadings, transcripts, declarations, files, tape recordings, correspondence, evidence, etc., concerning attorney Alex Landon being banned by prison authorities from entering any state correctional facility.”