Prison Break Too Close for Comfort : Castaic: Most North Bluffs residents are upbeat despite proximity to jail. But Sunday’s escape still rattles nerves.

Fred Ferdon bought a house in the North Bluffs development six years ago, partly because it was near a jail.

He felt it would keep the quiet neighborhood of two-story, Spanish-style houses from getting overcrowded. “That’s not going to be developed,” Ferdon said, making a sweeping gesture toward the rolling hills across the freeway from his home.

Then Sunday morning, Ferdon and his neighbors found out firsthand about the downside of sharing a ZIP code with a major prison complex. Two of the 14 escaped inmates were found hiding directly across the street from Ferdon’s house.

It was bad timing for Ferdon. Only two weeks ago, he put his home on the market.

“It’s hell when you are trying to sell a house,” said Ferdon, a college professor on the verge of retirement.

“But this is still a nice area,” he added, hopefully. “And if someone wants a home which is well decorated . . .”

It’s all part of living in the shadow of the 2,800-acre Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho, where on Sunday the biggest prison break in county history occurred. Residents who came to North Bluffs to leave behind the crime and congestion of more urban areas say they have accepted occasional prison breakouts in ex change for clean neighborhoods, less development and gorgeous mountain vistas.

But some days--like Monday, as authorities hunted for the remaining escapees--it seemed like less of a bargain.

“I thought it was better down here,” said Veronica Lopez, 21, who moved from Palmdale with her husband and three young children three months ago. “I don’t think I want to be here anymore. I think we’ll be better away from jails, especially with kids.”

Most residents were not so agitated by the break. “It’s like what people say about California and the earthquakes,” said Edie Baker, another North Bluffs resident. “You still love it here.”

Still, several residents were surprised that inmates such as escapees Eric Reed, a suspected murderer, and Walter Padilla, a convicted carjacker, were interred at Pitchess. “I thought it was minimum security there, that they didn’t have any murderers,” said Renee Huss as she dropped off her son at Castaic Union School kindergarten. “That makes me more worried.”

The Honor Rancho housed some prisoners in a minimum-security work facility, but that closed in March. The remaining facilities at the jail are for medium- or maximum-security prisoners.

Previous breakouts did not faze Lisa Galvin, who has lived in North Bluffs for six years. But on Sunday afternoon, she discovered two runaways under her BMW. They ran when she spotted them, and were captured shortly thereafter by authorities.

“In the past, it was one or two guys from minimum,” she said. “They’re usually just guys who just want to go home and are not going to hurt anyone.”

But since Sunday, Galvin said she’s been carrying a handgun in the house, so “if they do come back I’m ready for them.”

As was a 35-year-old former aerospace worker who lives on the other side of the Golden State Freeway. “I’m prepared,” said the man, speaking from behind a screen door. He would not give his name. “I’ve got my 12-gauge and my .357.”

But Galvin, like most residents, said she’s too fond of the neighborhood to leave. Baker, for example, has rented a home down the street from Galvin’s for three years and still hopes to buy it. “I feel real safe here,” she said as her daughters, ages 3 and 4, played on her front lawn, picking strawberries from a patch near the walkway.

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Although several local realtors refused to talk about the breakout, the co-owner of a Castaic Century 21 office predicted it would have no effect on home values. “I don’t think anybody out here makes a decision on buying or not buying a house because of the jail,” said Joan Byrd. “Most (buyers) don’t know it’s there,” she added, until their real estate agent tells them.

“We disclose it as a matter of principle,” she said.

Even Erica Aguilar, who moved her family to North Bluffs from Panorama City three years ago in an effort to get away from gangs, was philosophical.

“We tried to get away from a dangerous neighborhood--there were gangs around there and drugs, and we came here close to a jail,” said Aguilar, whose 14-year-old son spotted an escapee running through their back yard on Sunday.

“Everywhere you go,” she said, “it’s something.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Jail Break and Captures Ten men were captured within hours of the early Sunday morning escape from Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho. Two others were captured later and two remained at large as of Monday evening.

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Path of Escape 1. Inmates break out of North Facility complex at 3:15 a.m. Sunday. 2. They scale barbed- wire fence surrounding facility. 3. Escapees cross two low cattle fences along dry creek bed and run to Golden State Freeway. 4. They cross freeway into housing development. *

The Facility Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho last week held 9,012 inmates, 326 over its maximum capacity, requiring some inmates to sleep on bedrolls on the floor. *

Facility Totals Population: Approximately 9,000 men. Maximum Capacity: 8,686. *

North Facility Population: 1,614 men. Maximum Capacity: 1,600 Design: Maximum security *

The Captures Seven inmates have been captured outside the complex. 6. Kyeron Bennett, 20. 7. Mario S. Mendez, 25. 8. Daniel Vences, 22. 9. Guillermo V. Godinez, 19. 10. Manuel A. Olmedo, 22. 11. Fernando Arroyo, 24. 12. Eric M. Reed, 24. Source: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department