Authorities searched Saturday for a 51-year-old inmate who walked away from a South Los Angeles halfway house, seven months before he was due to be released.
Kent Garrett had been serving two-year, eight-month sentence for evading a peace officer, according to Quincy Watt of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Officials were notified about 4:45 p.m. Friday that Garrett had left the Male Community Reentry Program facility in the 3700 block of South Grand Avenue without authorization, Whitt said.
Garrett was placed into CDCR custody from Los Angeles County on Feb. 12 and transferred from the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad to the facility in South Los Angeles on Aug. 23, Whitt said, adding that Garrett was due to be released in June.
The re-entry program allows eligible offenders to serve the last year of their sentences in a transitional setting that provides them with programs and tools to help them adjust back to civilian life, according to the CDCR.
About 99 percent of inmates who escape from CDCR custody are captured, the department reports.
The Grand Avenue facility is one of three in Los Angeles County. The others are in Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles.
Each facility accommodates between 100 and 180 inmates, whom Whitt referred to as re-entry program “participants.”
Whitt could not immediately access figures on what percentage of inmates walk away from re-entry facilities, but said only a small percentage fail to complete the program once admitted.
“We have many more success stories than we have individuals like this,” Whitt said. “The pros (of the program) far outweigh the cons.”
Once taken back into custody, inmates often have additional time added to their original sentences. Whitt said he recently attended a sentencing hearing where an inmate who walked away from the re-entry program had another five years added to his sentence.
The 23-year CDCR veteran said he has heard from two recaptured offenders who wrote to tell him they realized they had made a bad decision and how sorry they were.
A detailed description of Garrett’s appearance was not available.