A Penny Exposes Jail's Weak Points
LAPD's 77th Division lockup has been fraught with problems, such as lack of reinforced walls, since it was built in 1997.
By Hector Becerra, Times Staff Writer
How hard was it for Francisco Puemas to escape from the 77th Division police station earlier this month?
He took a penny, sharpened it and chipped at a holding cell wall, digging a hole and fleeing less than an hour after entering the cell.
On Monday, Los Angeles Police Department officials outlined how profoundly broken the police station's detention system is.
The 20-year-old burglary suspect was able to escape from the jail because the station's holding cell walls, unlike those at other stations, were not reinforced with sheet metal or made of cinderblock to prevent escape. While officials reacted with surprise at the June 9 escape, documents released Monday show the city was aware that the holding cell was not secure when the station was built in 1997.
Originally, officials planned to build the cell with two pieces of drywall that sandwiched empty space around a metal frame. At the last minute, the city ordered wire mesh installed between the drywall as a security measure, documents show.
But officials acknowledge the mesh would do little to stop an inmate bent on escaping.
Since then, the holding cells have been closed as officials work to reinforce the walls with sheet metal.
In addition to the penny, Puemas also chatted incessantly with police officers and asked "inane" questions, apparently in order to lull them into ignoring him, said LAPD Capt. Bill Murphy.
"He would say all kinds of stuff, like 'Hey, I want food.' He engaged whoever he could in conversation" Murphy said. "He was real smart, he was really street smart. He knew how to engage people and aggravate them. That was part of his plan."
Murphy said Puemas cut a hole 15 inches by 9 inches into the front of the holding cell, crawled through and made his way down a corridor about 18 feet from the watch commander's office.
He went through two interior doors and then through a fire door with an alarm that has not worked in more than a year, Murphy said.
"That door, unfortunately, led into 77th Street," he said.
He added that Puemas, who was picked up a day later, was rather proud of his escape, and eagerly shared with police details about how he did it.
The walls are only one of the station's many problems, which have already cost the city about $700,000 in repairs and could cost at least $1 million in further repairs and improvements.
"Where do I start?" LAPD Lt. Paul Von Lutzow said when asked about the problems.
Sprinklers in the jail cells are situated low enough that inmates have climbed their bunk beds and kicked them loose, causing flooding. The flooring of the jail ward showers is buckling.
And the panic button does not work in the jail ward. "The idea is that you hit that button and patrol comes to your aid. If it doesn't work, the jailers could be in a world of trouble," said Murphy, the commander in charge of the 77th Division's patrol division. "It's scary. We shouldn't allow that."
At a meeting Monday of the Los Angeles City Council public safety committee, Councilman Dennis Zine asked how a relatively new station could be plagued with so many problems.
"Why have we had so many failures with jail wards, … video cameras and basically the whole operation itself?" Zine asked. "Every time I go down there, honestly, I find more problems."
Gail Kennard, president of the firm that designed the building, said the problems at the station were the result of poor "maintenance and housekeeping." She added that the design, which was done by her late father, Robert Kennard, involved input and approval from the LAPD and city agencies and that to "say that we kind of willy-nilly did this on our own would be a mischaracterization."
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