Prison Foul-Up Frees a Killer : Justice: San Quentin officials thought Arthur Alexander had finished his sentence. They gave him $200 and turned him loose. Now they’re trying to figure out what went wrong.

Arthur (Kit Kat) Alexander arrived at San Quentin on Oct. 10, facing a sentence of 28 years to life for a 1988 drug-related murder in Oakland.

Fifteen days and one big paperwork foul-up later, correctional officers escorted Alexander to the prison gate and set him free. Alexander, 38, described as an enforcer for an East Oakland drug gang, remained at large on Friday, and authorities said they are at a loss as to where he might be.

Authorities did not discover the escape until Wednesday, two weeks after Alexander was escorted to freedom, when a lawyer phoned the Department of Corrections trying to find him to talk about an appeal of the murder conviction.

Tipton Kindel, spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said that for some unknown reason, the paperwork from Alameda County where Alexander was convicted made no mention that he had been convicted of murder.

As a result, San Quentin thought that Alexander was there to serve the tail end of a 1987 burglary conviction. When the term on that charge expired soon after he arrived, Alexander was set free. Kindel was not sure Friday, but he assumed that prison authorities gave the convicted man $200 in “gate money” upon release, the standard practice.

“Our people are investigating. Alameda is investigating. At the end, we will know what happened,” Kindel said.

Alexander was convicted in August of the murder of Mark Lattin on April 13, 1988. Sgt. Greg Hughes of the Oakland Police Department described Lattin as a drug runner who apparently shorted Alexander’s gang on money.

“Arthur Alexander took it up himself to kill the man in East Oakland,” Hughes said.

Alameda County Superior Court Clerk Antoinette Ruiz said Superior Court Judge Joanne Parelli’s order sending Alexander to prison for murder was prepared immediately after he was sentenced on Sept. 28.

Alameda County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Knudson said a form prepared at the County Jail apparently was sent to San Quentin showing that Alexander was being committed to state prison for murder and burglary.

“Even today they haven’t received commitment papers (at San Quentin),” Kindel said.

Kindel said San Quentin officials, as they routinely do, checked with the state Department of Justice and the Sheriff’s Department to find out whether there were any warrants for his arrest.

“The guy had already been arrested, so of course there wasn’t a warrant,” Kindel said.

Alexander is technically free on parole from the burglary, and should report to his parole officer in Oakland. But Kindel, certain of the answer, asked, “Do you really think he’s going to show up?”