November 4, 2009 – Corrections officials failed to properly supervise parolee Phillip Garrido and missed opportunities to discover Jaycee Lee Dugard, the girl he allegedly kidnapped and held in his backyard for 18 years, a report summary released today said.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation also failed to refer Garrido for a mental health assessment, according to the report by the State Inspector General’s Office.
The summary said Garrido “committed numerous parole violations and that the department failed to properly supervise Garrido and missed numerous opportunities to discover his victims.”
The department also failed to train parole agents to conduct parolee home visits, failed to properly supervise parole agents responsible for Garrido and failed to adequately classify Garrido, the summary said.
It did not delve into the details of the findings and did not explain how agents failed to supervise him. The office released the summary on its Web site and planned an afternoon news conference to release the full document.
The two-month inquiry was launched after Garrido and his wife were arrested for allegedly kidnapping Dugard and holding her captive in his backyard.
Questions arose about how Garrido managed to keep Dugard hidden for so long despite being monitored by parole officers because of a previous rape conviction, even as he was being monitored by parole officers because of a previous rape conviction.
The office has said its report would include recommendations for improving parolee supervision statewide.
Garrido, 58, was under federal parole supervision and required to register as a sex offender when he and his wife, Nancy Garrido, allegedly snatched Dugard outside her South Lake Tahoe home in 1991. Phillip Garrido had been convicted in 1977 for kidnapping and raping a 25-year-old woman.
California took over Garrido’s supervision in 1999.
As a parolee, Garrido wore a GPS-linked ankle bracelet that tracked his every movement, met with his parole agent several times each month and was subject to routine surprise home visits and random drug and alcohol tests, according to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Still, the backyard encampment where Garrido allegedly hid and raped Dugard went unnoticed by authorities. Police say Garrido fathered Dugard’s two daughters, now 15 and 11, who were born in the ramshackle tent compound.
The Garridos have pleaded not guilty to 29 counts related to Dugard’s abduction, rape and imprisonment.
Dugard, 29, was reunited with her family in August, and is living with her daughters and mother in an undisclosed location in Northern California.
