Lancaster Team Tracked Down Escapees : Crime: Prison’s emergency response unit apprehended pair who fled a minimum-security dormitory the day before.

Prison officials revealed Friday how they tracked down two inmates Thursday who had escaped from the state prison at Lancaster early the previous morning.

The prison’s elite Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) found James Evans of Van Nuys and Phillip Souza of Phelan hiding at Souza’s sister-in-law’s home in Barstow, said Lt. A. M. Gonzales, the team’s commander.

Evans and Souza apparently escaped at about 2 a.m. Wednesday from a minimum-security dormitory. Local authorities, including the Sheriff’s Department and members of a prison advisory committee, were immediately notified of the escapes while the SERT team began searching for the convicts.

Prison authorities also contacted the San Bernardino sheriff’s and parole authorities in Victorville, Gonzales said.

The SERT team, parole officers and deputies searched the homes of Souza’s relatives in the Barstow area, who Gonzales said were all “very cooperative.”

As officers arrived at Souza’s sister-in-law’s home in Barstow, the escaped convicts apparently fled out a rear window, Gonzales said. “With the assistance of the parole officers and sheriffs, they were both apprehended and brought back in.”

No one was injured in the arrests, Gonzales said.

Both escapees have been placed in what prison authorities call “administrative segregation,” the highest level of security. The pair must remain isolated from other inmates and can leave their cells only for showers and short periods of exercise, Gonzales said.

Evans, who was previously due to be released from prison on Dec. 2, may now be facing life imprisonment, officials said. The escape charge they plan to bring against him could trigger the life sentence mandated for criminals convicted of three felonies.

“It’s up to the courts,” said prison spokesman Dean Crenshaw, “but we are looking into the possibility of a ‘three strikes’ with Evans.”

To prevent further escapes from the minimum-security area where Evans and Souza were kept, it will be surrounded with a razor-wire fence and alarms will be installed on all doors, Crenshaw said.

Prison officials are investigating how the two inmates may have been able to escape, he added.