Official Says Warden Erred on Escape Report : Lancaster: State prison administrator denies that convicted killer fled while officer was distracted.

Contrary to a warden’s report, an inmate who escaped recently from the new state prison here did not flee while the officer supervising him was distracted. In fact, there was no yard officer watching him, a state prison administrator said this week.

In addition, Warden Otis Thurman’s statement that “construction deficiencies” contributed to convicted murderer Eric Rene Johnson’s short-lived escape was untrue, said Tip Kindel, assistant director of the state Department of Corrections in Sacramento.

Kindel made several corrections and clarifications this week to a report prepared earlier this month by Thurman on Johnson’s escape. The warden gave the report to the prison’s citizens advisory committee, which made it public Nov. 18.

Kindel, who supervises the state agency’s communications staff, could not explain why errors appeared in the warden’s report. Thurman was not at the prison Friday and could not be reached for comment.

But some members of the citizens advisory committee were anxious to learn why they received incorrect information. Johnson’s escape Oct. 5 triggered widespread fear and anger and caused city leaders to reconsider their plans to welcome a second local prison to Lancaster.

“It does concern me,” said committee member Jake Maevers. “If there is a problem, I hope the committee gets back together shortly to discuss this.”

Another panel member, John Blalock, added: “I’m sure the committee will ask for an explanation . . . The main crux is that we know there were some procedural errors. Everybody is trying to be very careful because there are personnel involved, and they have rights.”

In his written report to the committee, Thurman said state investigators “cited staff negligence, construction deficiencies and procedural inadequacies as contributing factors to the escape.”

He also stated that Johnson, 23, began his escape while assigned to an evening work detail in the prison yard. Thurman said the officer who was supervising the work detail and another in a post overlooking the yard “were simultaneously distracted.”

When this occurred, Thurman said, Johnson was able to scale a block wall and later two chain-link fences, all topped with razor wire. The inmate was recaptured several hours later outside a Lancaster market.

In this week’s follow-up, Kindel said Johnson, a high-security prisoner, should not have been placed on an evening work detail. In a second violation of state prison rules, no officer was supervising Johnson and three other inmates assigned to the detail.

“The only person who really would have seen these inmates would have been someone in one of the towers,” Kindel said. “Why one of those (officers) didn’t see the inmate (escape) is still under investigation.”

The inmates on the work detail were not required to sign in or display a photo identification card when they returned to their housing area. As a result, Johnson’s absence was not immediately noticed, Kindel said.

“There were procedures that were in place but were not being followed,” he said. “All of the other maximum security institutions follow these.”

Since the escape, these lapses have been corrected, Kindel said.

Also, during their review of the prison, which opened in February, state investigators found a few construction problems, including chain-link fences that were not built precisely to state specifications.

But Kindel said, “There were no construction deficiencies found anywhere in the route of escape.”

He said a prison requires physical barriers and surveillance by officers to prevent an escape. When Johnson fled, “the staff did not notice the person, and he managed to climb at least three fences.”

Kindel said no prison employees have been suspended, but about half a dozen have been reassigned, pending the outcome of the state’s investigation.