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Parole officers attacked for not spotting clues to Jaycee kidnap
Ed Harris5 Nov 2009
Parole officers in California were harshly criticised today for repeatedly failing in their supervision of the man who allegedly held a girl captive for 18 years.
Phillip Garrido is accused of snatching Jaycee Dugard in 1991, when she was 11, and fathering two children with her. Dugard was kept hidden at Garrido's home despite numerous clues that she was being held prisoner.
A 45-page report by the state inspector general paints a tragic picture of missed opportunities to rescue Ms Dugard, now 29, and also reveals new details of her first interactions with the authorities after her release.
It says Ms Dugard repeatedly tried to conceal her identity in the hours before it was disclosed, telling authorities she was hiding from an abusive husband in Minnesota and defending Garrido. She said she knew he was a sex offender but said he was a changed man, “who was good with her kids”.
The report says Garrido, who was on parole for rape, was wrongly classified as low-risk and inadequately supervised. As a result, it says, many chances of discovering Ms Dugard were missed.
She was found in August, living in filthy and ramshackle huts hidden behind the house where Garrido lived with his wife Nancy. Both deny abduction and rape.
Jaycee was snatched from a bus stop near her home in the California town of South Lake Tahoe in 1991, and found at Garrido's home near Antioch. He was released from prison in 1988 after serving 11 years of a 50-year sentence for rape.
The report lists numerous lapses by the department, including:
* Failure to investigate an unknown 12-year-old girl during a home visit.
* Failure to refer Garrido for a mental health assessment.
* Lack of discussion with neighbours and local agencies.
* Failure to investigate information showing Garrido had violated his parole.
Inspector general David Shaw, appointed by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to monitor the prison system, said the failures by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation began almost immediately after the state took control of Garrido in 1999.
They included neglecting to interview Garrido's neighbours or to investigate power wires running from his house to the secret backyard compound where Dugard and her daughters were kept. Garrido was also temporarily classified as a low-risk offender.
The mistakes resulted “in the continued confinement and victimisation of Jaycee and her two daughters,” Mr Shaw said. Corrections secretary Matthew Cate said he “deeply regretted” it if mistakes made by his department kept Ms Dugard in captivity for even one day longer than necessary.
A statement issued by Ms Dugard's lawyer, McGregor Scott, said the report “clearly sets out many missed opportunities to bring a much earlier end to the nightmare of Jaycee Dugard and her family”. It also said Ms Dugard was “fully committed” to holding Garrido accountable for his alleged crimes.
