Teens Sought After Escape, Carjacking

Underscoring continuing problems in Los Angeles County’s juvenile detention system, four gang members being held at a juvenile hall in the San Fernando Valley escaped early Thursday and remained at large into the night, authorities said.

The four escapees, one of whom had been convicted of attempted murder, broke out of the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar about 3:30 a.m., according to police. The escapees later carjacked a vehicle, kidnapped its driver and forced him to take them to South Los Angeles, police said.

The Probation Department, which runs the county’s massive juvenile detention system, is investigating how the young inmates made their escape, department spokesman Anita Vigil said.

But sources familiar with the juvenile hall said the four inmates, all age 17, had been moved out of a secure section of the hall Monday night, even though they were considered high-risk inmates.

And one of the four had escaped last year from another county facility, yet was allowed to sleep in a less secure, dorm-like setting rather than a locked cell, according to the sources.

Vigil declined to comment on whether one of the inmates had escaped earlier, but said the department had followed all its rules and regulations in housing the inmates.

Authorities identified the four as Isaiah Walker, who was awaiting sentencing for attempted murder; Nicolas Pipkins; Kenny Mack; and Darral Duncan. Pipkins escaped from one of the county’s juvenile probation camps last March by holding a knife to a guard’s throat, sources familiar with the incident said. The four were in juvenile hall on an assortment of charges, including burglary, robbery and drug possession.

The four youths escaped by breaking through a wall panel in the day room and then used bedsheets to get over the wall at Nidorf, according to police and the Probation Department. The four lived in South Los Angeles and the Antelope Valley, authorities said.

At about 10 a.m., police said, the escapees approached a male driver, indicated they had a handgun and forced him to drive them to the area of Imperial Highway and Broadway in South Los Angeles, where he dropped them off. He was unhurt, police said.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said he was concerned that the inmates were able to escape so easily.

“We thought that the situation at Nidorf was under control,” Yaroslavsky said.

The other four supervisors, who with Yaroslavsky oversee the Probation Department, had no comment Thursday.

By contrast, all five supervisors have been very vocal about incidents of escapes and violence -- including a series of recent racial melees -- at the county lockups for adults, which are run by Sheriff Lee Baca, another elected official.

The escapes Thursday mark at least the fifth time in the last 4 1/2 months that young inmates have broken out of a county juvenile facility.

And they come as the county system -- which, with approximately 4,000 juvenile inmates, is now larger than the California youth prison system -- continues to struggle with increasing violence at both juvenile halls and probation camps.

Just days before the escape, another young inmate at Nidorf was stabbed in the eye, according to sources at the facility, who asked not to be named out of concern that speaking publicly could jeopardize their careers.

And since October there have been four major racially motivated fights at Nidorf, each involving more than a dozen young inmates, according to the Probation Department.

After years of complaints, the Board of Supervisors in January approved money to hire more officers to help quell the violence.

But county leaders had pledged four years ago to beef up security at Nidorf and other juvenile facilities after three juvenile inmates, including two who had been convicted of murder, escaped from Central Juvenile Hall near downtown Los Angeles in 2002.

At the time, Supervisor Mike Antonovich asked for a report on steps that could be taken to prevent further escapes.

In response, the Probation Department produced a 29-page Corrective Action Plan, which included 54 recommendations to strengthen security at the juvenile halls.

The Sheriff’s Department also made a series of recommendations to enhance security.

But today, neither the Probation Department nor Antonovich’s office can say how many of those recommendations have been implemented.

At least one has not, according to staff at the facility. There is no system of motion-activated floodlights, which could have illuminated the escaping inmates.

The Probation Department also is supposed to house high-risk offenders, such as juveniles who are being tried as adults and those who are an escape risk, in more secure buildings at the juvenile halls.

But Monday night, the juvenile offenders being housed in the Special Housing Unit at Nidorf were moved into an older building with less security, sources said.

Then, because all the inmates could not fit in the cells, seven, including the four who later escaped, were allowed to sleep in the day room, department spokeswoman Vigil said.

She would not discuss the housing arrangements further.

Vigil said authorities had restored security at the facility Thursday and said inmates were not in danger.