3 Inmates Escape From Castaic Jail : Prisoners: The men punch hole in roof of bakery. Sheriff says he ordered full-force search.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were scouring the area around the Pitchess Detention Center on Wednesday as they continued a search for three inmates who made an early morning escape through a roof--the second such jailbreak from the Castaic compound’s maximum security facility this year.

The three Van Nuys men--Marcelle Gonzales, 21, Julio Treto, 42, and Antonio Carbajal, 30--worked together in the jail’s bakery and apparently took advantage of its easy entry to the roof and jail yard, said Deputy George Ducoulombier, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

The inmates, who include a convicted carjacker, a burglar and a thief, were discovered missing about 3:30 a.m. when Treto, who was scheduled to go to court later Wednesday, was absent from a lineup of prisoners waiting to be transported to the Van Nuys courts complex.

After punching a hole in the roof of the bakery storage area, the men apparently escaped by climbing onto the roof and, using tied-up bedsheets, rappelled down a wall and onto the grounds of the jail, deputies said. The escapees fled through a hole in a fence, Ducoulombier said.

Sheriff Sherman Block, who was attending a previously scheduled law enforcement conference, said Wednesday he was aware of the escape and had ordered a full-force search for the men. The bakery break marked at least the fifth escape from the sprawling Pitchess compound, which has four jails on a 2,800-acre site, said Ducoulombier, adding that he could not verify the time period in which those escapes occurred.

Wednesday’s escape was also the second this year from the compound’s North County correctional facility, its maximum security jail where violent criminals are housed.

On April 30, in the largest jailbreak in county history, 14 prisoners escaped from Pitchess’ North County facility. Two of those escapees, convicted murderer Luis A. Galdamez and carjacker Walter R. Padilla, have yet to be captured.

During Wednesday’s jailbreak, the North County facility was near its 3,500-prisoner capacity, Ducoulombier said. The extensive search included 200 deputies, eight canine units and helicopters, and continued well into the night. Deputies set up a command post near the jail and warned residents and passing motorists that the prisoners were loose.

Truckers traveling through the area were alerted by electronic freeway signs and by authorities at weigh stations not to pick up hitchhikers.

But some parents in Castaic and nearby Newhall said they were not notified about the escape until later in the day.

“I would like to be informed and be able to lock the doors and give my kids a ride to school,” said Denise Hurd, a mother of five who lives in Castaic. “I can keep my sanity in knowing my child made it to school and made it back home alive.”

Hurd said she was planning to attend a Castaic Town Council meeting tonight, where the latest jailbreak was expected to be a hot topic on the agenda.

Council President Greg Ferrier said he and other residents have complained for months about the current method of notification, which they say comes too late.

Sheriff’s officials said they have debated a siren proposal and are researching the cost but have yet to make a decision.

“That’s something that has to be voted on and go before the council and get approved,” said sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Carrie Stuart. “Right now there is no plan to do it.”