Report Details Prison Escapee’s Difficult Route : Penitentiary: Murderer’s path is revealed in security review. Lancaster has put on hold a plan to lobby for another facility.

The convicted murderer who escaped Oct. 5 from the new state prison here climbed over an eight-foot block wall and two 12-foot chain-link fences--all topped with coiled razor wire--while two guards were distracted, according to a report released Thursday.

Eric Rene Johnson, 23, was recaptured outside a Lancaster market about five hours after his escape. His flight triggered an exhaustive review that resulted in 53 recommendations for security improvements, prison officials said.

In their report, state Department of Corrections investigators said that “staff negligence, construction deficiencies and procedural inadequacies” contributed to the escape.

Johnson was the first high-security prisoner to break out of the prison, which was billed as a state-of-the-art detention center when it opened in February. It houses about 4,000 inmates.

The escape triggered a community outcry against the prison and caused city officials to rethink their plan to welcome a second state prison to the city.

Members of the prison’s citizens advisory committee were allowed to inspect Johnson’s escape route Wednesday.

“I was shocked,” said committee member Sherry Lasagna, an aide to county Supervisor Mike Antonovich. “I had toured that facility right after it opened, and it certainly looked escape-proof.”

Added Dennis Davenport, Lancaster’s assistant city manager, “I’d have to think that someone did an incredible balancing act to keep from being cut to shreds. I don’t know if it was luck or skill or a combination of things that he didn’t get cut up.” When he was recaptured, Johnson’s injuries were described as minor.

Before Thursday, prison officials had declined to release details of the escape. They are continuing to withhold some information, citing security concerns.

According to the report, Johnson was taken into the prison yard for a work detail at about 7 p.m. on Oct. 5.

Shortly after 8:15 p.m., a guard assigned to watch Johnson in the yard and another in a post overlooking the yard “were simultaneously distracted,” said Warden Otis Thurman in his report to the advisory committee.

Thurman was unavailable Thursday to elaborate on the report.

Prison spokesman Kenn I. Hicks refused to say what distracted the guards. He also declined to say whether any guards are facing disciplinary action.

But James Lott, chairman of the prison’s advisory committee, said Thursday, “There was some staff negligence. If people had been doing their job, (Johnson) would have gotten caught before he got out of the prison. There were several staff people not attending to their business.”

While the guards were looking elsewhere, Thurman said in his report, Johnson climbed a nearby eight-foot-tall cinder-block wall, topped with four feet of chain-link fencing and coiled razor wire. The wall separates the prison yard from two 12-foot-tall chain-link fences that surround the prison.

Johnson hid behind nearby housing units, “presumably until dark,” the report said, then scaled the two chain-link fences, despite the razor wire atop them.

“Razor wire is supposed to cut you up or entangle you,” Hicks said. “That’s what it’s there for. That may not have happened” during Johnson’s escape.

Johnson was discovered missing from his cell at 9:30 p.m., prompting prison guards to conduct two emergency inmate counts. The second count, at 10:39 p.m., confirmed Johnson’s escape, report said.

Eight two-person prison staff teams searched for Johnson in the surrounding community. One of these teams captured him at 1:50 a.m. outside an AM-PM mini-mart at Avenue K and 15th Street West.

Since his escape, Johnson has been held in the prison’s “Administrative Segregation Unit” area, commonly known as “the hole.”

The escape sparked a loud outcry among nearby residents, who said they feared for their safety. Also, community leaders were outraged that prison administrators waited almost two hours before notifying local sheriff’s deputies about the escape.

Prison officials have agreed to contact local deputies more promptly concerning future escapes.

The incident prompted City Council members to put on hold their plan to lobby for a second prison in Lancaster.

Five prison officials from institutions elsewhere in the state were asked to review the escape and study the prison’s security procedures. Their report has not been made public, but in his letter Warden Thurman said these investigators recommended changes in the prison’s physical structure and its methods of supervising prisoners.

He stated that the Lancaster prison has increased its daily inmate counts from six to seven and stepped up security inspections along the fences. Inmates who pose the highest security risk are now grouped in two housing areas for closer observation.

In addition, the prison is spending $25,000 on additional escape procedure classes, which all employees must attend.

“Within 90 days, we expected to have taken all necessary precautions to prevent a recurrence,” Thurman wrote.

Although the plan is unrelated to the recent escape, state officials next summer will surround the Lancaster prison with a lethal electric fence, between the two chain-link barriers, to further deter breakouts.

Several advisory committee members said Thursday that the prison is responding appropriately. “We feel comfortable that our community will be safe from escapes,” said Lott, the panel’s chairman.