A BLISTERING EVALUATION OF THE GARRIDO PAROLE AND THE CALIFORNIA PAROLE SYSTEM

WATCHDOG SLAMS CDCR OVER GARRIDO PAROLE

3KCRA.com
November 4, 2009

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A report from the state Office of the Inspector General says the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation failed to "adequately classify and supervise" kidnapping suspect Phillip Garrido.

The office recently conducted an independent investigation of the CDCR's parole supervision of Garrido.

Garrido and his wife, Nancy Garrido, have both pleaded not guilty to rape, kidnapping and other charges related to the kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard. They are being held in El Dorado County.

Among other findings in the special report's executive summary, the office said that the CDCR also failed to use GPS information and ignored opportunities to determine that Garrido was violating his parole.

Garrido was on federal and then state parole during the time he allegedly took Dugard from a bus stop and then held her for nearly two decades at his Antioch home. He allegedly fathered Dugard's two children.

The two-month investigation was launched after questions surfaced about CDCR's failure to find and rescue Dugard, 29, and her daughters sooner.

The report said that during the 10-year period that the department was supposed to be keeping watch on Garrido, it failed to supervise him in several ways. The office's findings in brief are below:

 Failed to adequately classify and supervise Garrido.
 Failed to obtain key information from federal parole authorities.
 Failed to properly supervise parole agents responsible for Garrido.
 Failed to use GPS information.
 Provides the public a false sense of security with a passive GPS monitoring program that falls short of its potential, raising OIG’s concerns about the department’s current and future uses of GPS monitoring.
 Ignored other opportunities to determine that Garrido was violating the terms of his parole.
 Failed to refer Garrido for mental health assessment.
 Failed to train parole agents to conduct parolee home visits.
 Missed opportunities to discover the existence of Garrido’s three victims, including:

 Failing to investigate clearly visible utility wires running from Garrido’s house towards the concealed compound.
 Failing to investigate the presence of a 12-year old female during a home visit.
 Failing to talk to neighbors or local public safety agencies.
 Failing to act on information clearly showing Garrido had violated his parole terms.

Inspector General David Shaw said earlier that in an initial screening of the Garrido case, it did not look like there was any criminal conduct by anyone from corrections.

The inspector general is responsible for independent oversight of corrections.

El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson said Wednesday that the report is welcomed as a way to find problems within federal and state corrections, and use those insights to implement changes and reforms.

"A more critical question which was has not yet been addressed is why a dangerous sexual predator like Phillip Garrido was released after serving only 11 years of a 50-year federal sentence and a 5-to-life Nevada State sentence," Pierson said in a statement.