8 Prisoners Flee in 3rd Chula Vista Jailbreak

In the third big escape from the jail since December, eight inmates broke out of San Diego County’s South Bay Detention Facility in Chula Vista on Tuesday night, sparking outrage from nearby residents and merchants.

A total of 28 inmates have broken out of the jail in the three escapes; 13 remained at large as of Wednesday night.

The latest escape occurred about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday when the inmates used an unidentified tool to cut through a metal bar, kicked out a window and then climbed 35 feet down bed sheets to the ground. A security guard outside spotted the escape and alerted deputies inside.

One of the eight escapees was captured when a Chula Vista policeman cornered him in the back yard of a nearby residence, but the seven others remained at large.

The latest breakout came despite new security procedures that were authorized after 13 inmates escaped last month. Area residents and community leaders are increasingly angry that not enough is being done to keep inmates inside the jail.

“The county is in a crisis mode with its jail system,” Chula Vista Mayor Greg Cox said Wednesday. “This situation is intolerable. It’s unacceptable.” Cox added that his office was deluged with telephone calls from citizens worried for their safety.

The 28 inmates who have escaped since December have included several accused murderers. Two accused murderers were among those who escaped Tuesday night; both remained at large.

Built just eight years ago and designed to house no more than 192 inmates, the South Bay Detention Facility was originally supposed to handle only pretrial detainees. Tuesday night, jail officials said, it contained 725 inmates, including a large number of convicted felons bound for state prison.

Pat Mandeville, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections, said she could not say whether the rash of jailbreaks in Chula Vista is a record among the state’s county jails. “But three breaks in four months does seem like a lot,” she said. “That’s a lot of people getting out.”

That fact is not lost on Chula Vista residents and merchants.

Heather Paul, 35, who lives with her husband in the El Primero Hotel just a block from the jail, said she got home Tuesday night as sheriff’s helicopters and police cars were converging around her building.

Speaking through a slightly opened door Wednesday, she said, “It concerns me when these people are charged with murder and are breaking out of jail. What about people’s safety? It’s frightening. It really is.”

The recent series of jailbreaks began Dec. 5, when seven inmates escaped by covering their bodies with hand lotion and squeezing through a 6-inch window opening on the third floor. They tied together bed sheets and climbed 80 feet down to the ground. As of Wednesday, two of those escapees were still missing.

The second incident occurred March 7 in what was the county’s biggest jailbreak ever. A total of 13 inmates broke out that night, and four remain at large. They sawed through two bars, then smashed through a second-floor plate glass window and used bed sheets to reach the ground.

Tuesday night, in a replay of the March scenario, eight inmates sawed through jail bars, then smashed a window and lowered themselves with bed sheets 35 feet to the ground.