Jail Escape Explained: ‘Dr. Dolittle’ Did It

Kevin Jerome Pullum apparently used a fake identification card with a picture of actor Eddie Murphy from “Dr. Dolittle 2” on it to easily walk out of Twin Towers jail in a planned escape a week ago, sheriff’s officials said Friday.

The Sheriff’s Department launched a massive manhunt for Pullum, 31, but by late Friday had failed to locate him. Sheriff Lee Baca and his command staff had been stumped for days by Pullum’s escape, which occurred late July 6, hours after he was convicted in Van Nuys Superior Court of attempted murder.

On Friday, the department revealed that 13 inmates, including Pullum, have escaped in the last five years from county facilities. Earlier in the week, Baca claimed that no inmates had escaped from the county jail system since he took office in 1998.

With the aid of security videotapes and a jailhouse informant, department officials said they believe they finally have determined how Pullum slipped away.

The informant told them that Pullum made a fake identification card using a picture clipped from a movie advertisement from a newspaper or magazine of Murphy’s face and covered it with plastic. Pullum either made a new card or may have stolen an employee’s card and modified it, officials said, adding that they do not believe anyone checked his badge.

Pullum, who had been representing himself in court, apparently kept his beige trousers and light flowered shirt under his blue jail uniform when he returned from the courthouse, sheriff’s officials said.

Under department policy, inmates are required to change into their jail uniforms before leaving court and are to be strip-searched when they return to jail. Pullum managed to avoid both.

His jail-issued identification wristband was properly scanned by deputies at the courthouse in Van Nuys and again when he arrived back at a downtown Los Angeles Inmate Reception Center from court. It was scanned for the last time at 7:40 p.m., just before he was supposed to walk back through a tunnel to Men’s Central Jail, where he was being housed.

Sheriff’s officials typically do not escort inmates through the tunnels that link the Inmate Reception Center to Twin Towers and Men’s Central Jail unless the detainees are mentally ill or violent. The long, concrete walkways do not have security cameras.

Instead of walking toward Men’s Central Jail, Pullum apparently walked through another tunnel to Twin Towers, probably dumping his jail uniform in an alcove, sheriff’s officials said.

At that point, Pullum was videotaped by department security cameras as he awaited an elevator in Tower 1, garbed in his casual attire and wearing an ID badge.

“We have videotape of him in the elevator, we have video of him in the hallway, we have video of him going through our main [security] control area,” Baca said in an interview. “And, we have video of him walking out.”

Sheriff’s officials said they decided to check the video based on the informant’s tip and they believe his information to be reliable. It was unclear Friday if officials had used the informant in the past.

In the security camera frame, Pullum enters the elevator, wearing glasses and what appear to be his jail-issued black slip-on tennis shoes and carrying a folder. He does not appear to be wearing his wristband but does have a plastic card hanging around his neck. The Sheriff’s Department is attempting to enhance the photos to determine more about the badge worn by Pullum.

He appears, on camera, to be lost, said Assistant Sheriff Dennis Dahlman. The jail’s main entrance is on the first floor, where Pullum had been. But he is seen headed down to the basement, where he exits the elevator, walks around a corner, comes back and pushes the button again. This time, he goes back up to the first floor and exits the elevator.

The next frame from a security camera shows Pullum, carrying a file folder, walking down the stairs of the employee exit of Twin Towers jail on Bauchet Street. Other employees, not in uniform, also are leaving the building. A number of mental health workers and others constantly enter and exit through those doors.

“It’s a high traffic area for civilians,” said Dahlman, who held a news conference to release the security camera photos. “We have employees all over the building dressed as he was--in casual clothing. . . . He was not going to attract the attention” of a deputy.”

Pullum apparently joined a group of employees leaving for the evening and walked past the security booth unnoticed.

In the final frame, time-stamped 19:51:26 p.m., Pullum takes a long stride out the door.

The escape raises troubling questions for the department, which runs the nation’s largest jail system. Baca said he is concerned about several breakdowns in the system. But he said he takes full responsibility.

“There’s no excuse on our part,” he said. “I’m completely responsible for what occurred and I’m going to fix it. That’s the bottom line here.”

Baca said he will require all employees and civilians who work in Twin Towers to turn in a driver’s license or other identification in exchange for a pass when they arrive for work. When they leave, they will be required to turn in that pass for their identification cards. Such a system is in effect at the Men’s Central Jail, but Twin Towers--which opened in 1997 and houses the largest mentally ill jail population in the country among its inmates--never instituted that procedure.

Department officials also have tentatively ruled out the possibility that someone inside the jail system cooperated with Pullum, but they noted that there are three areas that still need more investigation: courthouse procedures, the return-from-court searches at the Inmate Reception Center and the main employee entrance at Twin Towers. At this point, no one has been disciplined for the escape.

Baca said the incident calls into question the privileges given to inmates who represent themselves in court. Pullum, who served as his own attorney, had access to such things as copy machines, typewriters, paper and folders.

The sheriff said he plans to review whether inmates should be allowed to walk freely through the tunnels without escorts. A control booth stands midway in one of the tunnels--unmanned.

Department records show that of the 13 escapees, including Pullum, all but two were recaptured. Eighteen inmates tried to escape but were captured without ever leaving the facility over that five-year period, including attempts in the Men’s Central Jail. And the department erroneously released 46 inmates from January 1997 through this month but says all were rearrested.

Pullum, who is a three-striker and faces a possible life prison sentence, is due to return to court for sentencing Thursday.

Sheriff’s video of Kevin Jerome Pullum’s escape from the Twin Towers jail can be seen on The Times’ Web site at https://latimes.com/escape.