Escape of Hospitalized Inmate Won’t Alter Sheriff’s Department Policies

The escape of a man considered by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department to be “armed and dangerous” has not led the department to reconsider its contract with the security agency that was guarding him, or the visitation policies for prisoners, a spokesman for the department said Tuesday.

The department is in its second year of a contract with Wackenhut Corp., which provides security for hospitalized prisoners at county hospitals, said Sgt. Bob Takeshta, public affairs officer with the Sheriff’s Department.

Wackenhut “normally provides security at UCSD and Physicians & Surgeons Hospital under contract, but (prisoners) may require the services of other hospitals in the county,” Takeshta said.

“The guards are present to watch inmates who are in hospitals for various treatments. Obviously, if there’s significant risk, you’ll see a deputy there, but often they don’t necessarily require a deputy’s service,” Takeshta said.

Approved for Visit

A guard from Wackenhut, John Lowrey, was watching Michael Ismael Valdez at Mercy Hospital on Sunday night when he was kidnaped by the suspect and his girlfriend, Teresa Juliana Reyes, and taken to Mexico, the Sheriff’s Department said.

A department spokesman said Reyes had been cleared to visit Valdez. According to the deputy, she told the guard when she arrived that she had a bomb and a weapon inside the sack she was carrying. The two forced the guard to take Valdez in a wheelchair to the first floor, where they took Reyes’ car and the guard to Mexico. There, the guard was released, and he called authorities at the border. The two are still at large.

Takeshta said Reyes’ visit, like all other visits to hospitalized prisoners, had been approved by the watch commander at the County Jail and there will not be a policy review of visitation procedures.

By agreement with the Sheriff’s Department, the hospital guards wear plain clothes and are unarmed. “There’s no reason for guards to be armed,” said Peter Abrahano, area manager for Wackenhut. “You don’t really think (prisoners) are going to go anywhere.”

Hired By Other Private Firms

Wackenhut also works for private companies and, in some instances, its guards are armed, Abrahano said. The company has about 400 employees.

The unarmed guards in hospitals are “totally a decision of the Sheriff’s Department,” said Laura Avallone, director of public relations at Mercy Hospital. “The hospital exists to take care of patients, whether they’re involved in illegal or other incidents. It’s the job of the Sheriff’s Department to see how that person is going to be guarded.”

Los Angeles and Orange counties use their own deputies to guard hospitalized prisoners.

One of the reasons San Diego County Sheriff’s Department uses Wackenhut is economics, Takeshta said. “It’s a pure fact of dollars and cents.”

Sheriff’s deputies are paid an average of $12 to $16 an hour for their services.

Paid Less Than Deputies

Abrahano declined to say how much his guards made per hour, except to say that they are paid less than sheriff’s deputies. For this fiscal year, which ends in June, the Sheriff’s Department has agreed to pay about $410,000 to Wackenhut, said a supervisor in the county accounts payable division.

To Takeshta’s knowledge, Sunday’s escape was not highly unusual.

“This is not an isolated incident; there have been others, but not at an alarming rate,” he said. The most recent escape was Jan. 3, when suspect James Sputo escaped from Physicians & Surgeons Hospital by jumping out a 4th-floor window, Takeshta said. Sputo, who was being held on narcotics charges, is still at large.

Takeshta could not confirm that a Wackenhut guard was on duty when Sputo escaped.

“I would assume (Sputo) was under guard; he was being held on felony charges,” he said. “Generally under those conditions, Wackenhut would be there.”