Some prisoners serving time at a minimum-security camp on Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex property are tired of the day-to-day grind of prison life. At least that seems to be the case, based on a string of recent escapes from the unfenced, dormitory-style facility.
According to notices from the prison, a total of five inmates have escaped from the camp since August 2009. The most recent—a double offense—occurred on Dec. 11, when inmates Cesar Brito, 40, and Jorge Martinez, 30, were discovered missing during a routine check.
Prison officials immediately conducted a search of the surrounding area. When that proved fruitless, prison spokeswoman Katie Shinn said U.S. Marshals, the F.B.I., and local law enforcement agents were all alerted about the escapes.
Brito was serving a sentence for possession of cocaine with intent to sell and had a projected release date of July 4, 2013. Martinez was serving a sentence for distribution of methamphetamine, with a projected release date of Dec. 23, 2011.
Shinn said most of the approximately 458 men housed at the prison camp are serving short terms for drug-related or non-violent crimes and enjoy a higher quality of living than their counterparts living in the nearby penitentiary.
“They take care of my yard,” Shinn said, explaining that the men at the camp provide labor services to the prison and its staff housing and Vandenberg Air Force Base.
“I really don’t know why they would walk away like that, because once you get caught, you get more time added onto your sentence,” she said.
Perhaps the men were simply copying the actions of some of their fellow inmates:
On Nov. 29, convicted cocaine dealer Armando Martinez was discovered missing during a routine evening check. His release was scheduled for Sept. 3, 2011. A few weeks earlier, on Nov. 8, inmate Quinton Lamont Howard also walked away from the camp. The five-month trend seems to have started with the escape of convicted methamphetamine dealer Santiago Cienfuegos, Jr., on Aug. 8.
“We take every one seriously,” Shinn said. “Unfortunately, walkaways are more common with minimum-security complexes.”
She added that the prison has increased some of its security measures since the escapes started. However, making major adjustments—such as adding a fence to the camp’s perimeter—isn’t possible because it would alter the camp’s designation as “minimum security,” a component often specified in inmates’ sentences.
And the Lompoc camp isn’t the only federal facility with a walkaway problem.
According to information from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the vast majority of prison escapes are walkaways from camps and community corrections institutions with minimal security measures. However, the overall number of escapes has been steadily declining since 1994.
Still, the recent local spike in walkaways doesn’t seem to have area officials too worried.
“I don’t have a lot of concern about the minimum-security prisoners. I have a lot of confidence in the prison officials. They make sound decisions when it comes to determining inmates’ security levels,” Lompoc Mayor Mike Siminski said. “There are a lot crazies out walking the streets that have yet to be identified [that are of] more concern.”
And if people do escape from the prison, explained Lompoc Police Chief Timothy Dabney, the last place they’re going to want to be is Lompoc.
“Practically speaking, people who want to leave the area want to get as far away from the prison as possible,” Dabney said.
He said his department meets frequently with prison officials to discuss safety and provide assistance they might need.
“In the 14 years I’ve been here as chief, no one, to my knowledge, has escaped from either the [penitentiary] or the [correctional institute],” he said.
Dabney went on to say that prison warden Linda Sanders told him three of the five inmates have been recaptured.
Spokeswoman Shinn later told the Sun that there was apparently a miscommunication between Sanders and Dabney, and that the warden confirmed only one of the inmates has been returned to custody thus far: Howard, who had walked away on Nov. 8.
Sanders hadn’t returned phone calls as of press time.
Contact News Editor Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 7-14, 2010.
