Sheriff Reassignment Following OC Jailbreak

SANTA ANA, CA — A captain in charge of Central Jail in Santa Ana when three inmates escaped in January is no longer in charge of the coroner's division, a post he was assigned to after the jail break, a sheriff's spokesman confirmed today.

Capt. Chris Wilson remains employed by the Orange County Sheriff's Department, according to Orange County sheriff's Lt. Mark Stichter, who declined to say whether Wilson was on paid or unpaid leave or what new assignment, if any, he has now.

Stichter cited a state law -- the Peace Officer Bill of Rights -- as the reason he could not comment further about Wilson's status.

Wilson was moved to the coroner's division as part of a "shift every couple of years and new commands" for officers, Stichter said.

Capt. Bill Baker has been in charge of the Central Jail since Wilson was reassigned, Stichter said.

In January, the president of the union that represents rank-and-file deputies, complained about the way the jail was run, arguing there was a management directive to "completely ignore department policy on conducting inmate counts nearly a year ago."

When complaints from deputies surfaced about the inmate counts, they received "push-back from jail management with the justification that 'This is the way we have always done it,"' Tom Dominguez, president of the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, said in a letter to Sheriff Sandra Hutchens dated Jan. 29.

Dominguez said a directive from Wilson last year, "essentially nullified every department policy on inmate counts and allowed for the jail facility to function for at least a year -- including during this recent jail escape -- without a written policy on inmate counts."

Hutchens said at the time she was concerned about how long it took to discover the prisoners were missing.

Last month, Hutchens announced a series of upgrades that have been made at the jail stemming from the escape.

Sheriff's officials have often said the jail, built in 1968, was badly in need of repairs and modernization, but there was a fresh urgency to improving it following the Jan. 22 escape of Hossein Nayeri, Jonathan Tieu and Bac Duong, who were all back behind bars eight days later.

Vents and gates have been better secured since it was discovered the inmates used a tool to cut through them on the way out.

Administrators also went over procedures on "counting" inmates with deputies to make sure everyone was doing it consistently and according to policy.

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