8 Escapes Stir Bid to Upgrade INS Facility

Embarrassed officials of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service are scrambling to upgrade the security at a Los Angeles detention center that had been operating for less than a week when eight women escaped by breaking through a barred window to freedom Christmas Eve.

One of the escapees, a Chinese woman who later surrendered because she is seeking political asylum in the United States, said she felt compelled to bust out because of what she said were poor conditions at the recently opened facility near MacArthur Park. The woman, Chen Wanpeng, said there was a lack of blankets for detainees at night and no opportunities to take showers.

Officially, INS officials said they are working with Transitional Housing Inc., a Long Beach company contracted to operate the closed detention center, to correct “security problems” and make “other needed contractual improvements.”

Privately, some within the agency, noting that none of the 50 or so men detained there escaped, are a bit embarrassed that the facility had to be closed so quickly after it opened Dec. 18.

“Yeah, we just opened the place and these women got away,” one INS agent said. “But we’re working on it so nobody else gets away . . . I hope.”

Like other law enforcement agencies, the INS is pressed by problems of overcrowding at its various detention facilities. The record number of aliens apprehended throughout Southern California has forced the agency to turn motels and apartment houses into holding centers for deportable aliens.

The placement of such facilities, particularly one in a largely immigrant community in Hollywood in 1986, has drawn the ire of Latino activists and others.

Last fall, the INS awarded a $2-million contract for the operation of a detention center in the heart of Los Angeles’ burgeoning immigrant population. It chose a 30-year-old stucco building at 1115 S. Alvarado St. that had been a nursing home.

Renovations were made to accommodate up to 253 detainees. INS officials said the two-story building eventually would include recreational and educational opportunities for the detained aliens. English-language teachers were even assigned to the center.

Without much fanfare, Transitional Housing Inc. opened the detention center a week before Christmas. But it turned out to be too soon.

“They said they were ready,” said Robert M. Moschorak, INS’ acting Los Angeles district director. “Apparently, they were not as prepared as they said they were.”

At 8:45 p.m. on Dec. 24, officials said some of the women detainees had pushed open a window that was not secured and bent two bars of the window’s security frame. Weakening the frame made the bars easy to bend, officials said.

Eight women climbed through the window and escaped.

Two days later, the center was closed for repairs. Of the 90 aliens being held there at the time of the escape, 22 have been transferred to an INS detention center in El Centro and the rest were released on their own recognizance.

Chen, who was apprehended by the INS upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport in October, said she escaped because she did not want to be left behind.

“It was very cold (there),” said Chen, who is now staying with Chinese-speaking families in the area while her petition for asylum is being considered.

She said there were no amenities--such as blankets and access to showers--at the Alvarado Street center. She also said there were restrictive rules regarding the use of pay telephones.

Chen said none of these problems occurred at an INS detention center in Inglewood, where she was first taken by authorities. There are several such facilities throughout Southern California.

What upset her the most about the Alvarado Street center, Chen said, was that a male guard would spend the night in the cell where she and three other women slept. Although nothing occurred, Chen said his presence frightened her.

Dick Edwards, president of Transitional Housing Inc., rejected Chen’s assertions.

“Nothing of that nature ever happened,” Edwards said. “It’s nothing but hearsay. It would have taken a conspiracy of a number of employees for that to happen. I can’t imagine that type of conspiracy happening.”

He also said there were blankets and showers available for any of the detainees who asked for them.

Edwards was perturbed as the INS’ characterization of the facility as a detention center. It is a “processing center,” he said.

“If they choose to leave, they can,” he said. “I’m not going to prevent anyone who wants to leave.” However, he conceded, if they do leave they will “obviously be violating rules.”

Edwards and INS officials said they did not know when the Alvarado Street facility would be reopened.