Warden Told to Retire or Be Demoted

In a surprise move, officials have told the warden at the state prison in Lancaster either to retire or accept a demotion--likely the result of a series of problems that have plagued the year-old prison, including the escapes of a convicted murderer and three other inmates.

In a brief statement issued Friday, state prison officials said, “The California Department of Corrections has made a decision to restructure the management team (at the Lancaster prison) . . . Otis Thurman, warden, has yet to determine which options available to him would be in his best interest and has decided to take some time off.”

No other details were released, but several members of the prison’s citizens advisory committee said they were told that Thurman’s options were to retire--after more than three decades as a corrections department employee--or accept a demotion and be transferred elsewhere.

“I was notified Thursday the warden was being asked to take a demotion and/or retire,” said Jake Maeders, a committee member.

The sudden shake-up also includes the demotion and transfer of Thurman’s second in command at the 4,000-inmate prison. Beginning Monday, Chief Deputy Warden Alex Marmolejo, has a new assignment as an associate warden at the state prison in Tehachapi.

Prison officials declined comment beyond the brief statement. Lancaster prison spokesman KennI. Hicks, the only prison administration employee who answers media queries, said, “The only information I’m providing is just what’s in that statement. This is all we’re issuing at this point.”

Calls to James H. Gomez, the Department of Corrections director in Sacramento, were referred to the agency’s media office. That office said all calls on the matter had to be directed to the Lancaster prison.

Advisory committee members said they, too, were given little information and that they were surprised Thurman was being replaced.

But committee member George Root, a Lancaster councilman, said he thought something like this would happen.

“I think his (Thurman’s) problem was he was too laid back,” Root said.

“I’m really happy the Department of Corrections saw fit to remove the warden and his deputy as a first step to reorganization of the management staff.”

Most advisory committee members said the shake-up is the result of the four escapes, including that of two maximum-security inmates, and other problems that have occurred at the prison.

The first escapes occurred just five months after the prison opened Feb. 1, 1993. On July 2, two minimum-security inmates, one serving time for burglary the other for robbery, walked away from their barracks. Both were captured--one two days later, the other four days after his escape.

On Oct. 5, convicted murderer Eric Rene Johnson escaped from the maximum-security unit. Johnson, serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, was spotted about five hours later at a Lancaster convenience store, a few miles from the prison.

Johnson’s escape, the first by a maximum security inmate, triggered an uproar in the community. Prison officials waited more than two hours to notify the local sheriff’s station. The Lancaster City Council was not told for more than 12 hours, after Johnson was captured.

The escape and the handling of it led community leaders to abandon plans to support construction of a second state prison in Lancaster.

On Jan. 13, maximum-security inmate Steven Charles Brigida hid in a garbage bin to escape. He was dumped with the trash into a truck, then discarded at a Lancaster landfill. Brigida, serving a sentence of life plus eight years for attempted murder, auto theft and burglary, suffered broken ribs.

Guards have shot and wounded inmates at least three times, including twice this month. Four inmates were hospitalized in early February after being injured when refusing to comply with cell and body searches that were being conducted because of information that an inmate had a weapon.

The prison has been heavily criticized for failing to keep the community informed, as has Thurman for making no public statements about the escapes. Reports on the results of investigations into the escapes have yet to be released.

“We want the community to be safe, we want the prison more media friendly, we want better community relations,” said James Lott, chairman of the 15-member advisory committee. “We need to have openness. We cannot have a perception they’re hiding things at the prison.”

Although Lott wouldn’t speculate on reasons behind the management restructure, he said if it was a result of the escapes, “I think it sends a strong signal that the community is not going to tolerate escapes.”

“I would hope that any change is going to be for improvement of the facility and that would include reducing escapes,” said Dennis Davenport, another committee member.

Andrew Banks, a correctional officer at the prison, said that since word of Thurman’s departure spread, morale has been low among employees.

“As far as I know he was well liked,” said Banks, president of the local chapter of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn.

Until Gov. Pete Wilson appoints a new warden, the prison will be run by an interim warden. Joann Gordon, southern regional administrator, began serving Thursday in that post.

In the next few days, Warden John Ratelle from the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, will arrive in Lancaster and fill the interim post.

Prison officials did not know when a replacement for the chief deputy warden would be named.