Warden at Terminal Island Is Transferred

The warden of Terminal Island federal prison has been reassigned, but the move is unrelated to eight escapes there in the last five months, Jerry Williford, Bureau of Prisons regional director, said Friday.

Warden Rodrick (Dutch) Brewer has been transferred to the federal prison in Bastrop, Tex., and will be replaced by Fred Stock, the warden at Bastrop, said Williford.

He said a number of changes are due at Terminal Island because a new federal lockup in downtown Los Angeles is scheduled to open in the fall. Because Brewer, 49, has said he may retire in a year, Williford said he preferred to have a new warden at Terminal Island to provide continuity.

The Federal Correctional Center at Bastrop is a high-security prison requiring a strong warden, Williford said.

“Dutch is going to be a warden at another facility, so it’s not like the system’s down on Dutch,” Williford said in a telephone interview from his San Francisco office.

Brewer said in a telephone interview with The Times that while he did not want to contradict his boss, “I think what he’s trying to say is they’re not blaming me for the escapes. But I think any time an institution has some turbulence, it’s a management option to change horses.”

He said he arrived at Terminal Island last summer, but that his assignment there was not exceptionally short by Bureau of Prisons standards. “I have moved in my career I think three times in a year or less. I have also been in two places for three years and in one for four and a half.”

Brewer said he previously headed a high-security federal correctional institution at Oxford, Wis., and a low-security federal prison camp at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.

On Saturday, convicted drug kingpin Elrader (Ray Ray) Browning was stopped on his way out of a prison attorney interview room in a disguise apparently secreted in by visitors.

A guard who recognized Browning’s walk and knew how many lawyers were supposed to be in the area caught Browning before he made it out of the room.

8 Escaped Since March

Prison records show that eight prisoners have escaped from Terminal Island since March, and all have been recaptured, bureau spokeswoman Kathy Morse said. Before then, there had not been any escapes since Oct 1, 1984.

Brewer earlier blamed the recent escapes on crowding and a 50% increase in the last year in the number of prisoners being held at the prison while awaiting sentencing.

The Federal Correctional Facility at Terminal Island is a low- to medium-security prison and is not designed to hold the high-risk prisoners sometimes held there while awaiting trial or sentencing. Those prisoners will be moved to the high-rise Los Angeles Metropolitan Correctional Center when it opens in the fall.

Terminal Island, designed to hold 600 prisoners, now has about 1,150 inmates. About 600 of those are being held pending trial or sentencing.