Prisons revise rules after rapist freed

Cy Ryan and Erica D. Johnson

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The director of the state Department of Corrections said today she is going to meet with Clark County officials to prevent a reoccurrence of the wrongful release of an inmate who was sentenced to life in prison.

Inmate Steven Perry, 38, was freed last year in an apparent mix-up between state and Clark County officials. He was on the street for about two weeks before he was captured.

Corrections Director Jackie Crawford said Perry did not commit any crimes while he was free. "No one was hurt," she said.

Glen Whorton, assistant director of the corrections department, said Perry is now confined to High Desert State Prison in Clark County.

Whorton said the Perry incident as "miscommunication." And it's an isolated case, he said.

According to court officials, Perry was serving a one- to four-year term for assault with a deadly weapon when he pleaded the equivalent of no contest last May to a single count of sexual assault of a child under 16.

In August, District Judge Donald Mosley sentenced Perry to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years for the rape charge.

But when the assault charge expired days after Perry was sentenced on the rape charge, Deputy District Attorney Brian Kochevar said, Perry was mistakenly released from prison.

Prison officials say they did not learn of the life sentence until after Perry was freed.

Perry had been out of prison for about two weeks when the victim's mother noticed him on the street and informed the Metro detectives who had investigated the case.

"He'd gone back to his old neighborhood and was just hanging out," Kochevar said.

Kochevar said it did not appear that Perry had committed any more crimes or tried to contact the victim while he was out of prison.

Crawford said it's an "automation-communications problem." She said she intends to set up a meeting with county officials and judges to discuss "how best to remedy the problem."

Whorton said the prison took steps after Perry's release to tighten the rules. He said correctional officers who escort the inmate to the courthouse now are required to report to the warrants officer anything they may hear about an additional sentence an inmate is facing.

Whorton said a bill was introduced in the Legislature several years ago to strengthen the system but it never got out of committee.

The Perry case is similar to one involving Ivan Garcia, who was serving a 12- to 30-month sentence for being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm at the High Desert State Prison. He was ordered held without bail on charges of shooting and killing a man in downtown Las Vegas in March 2002.

But he was released last year and fled to Mexico. Border patrol agents arrested him when he tried to re-enter the United States in February this year.

In another case, Pahrump convicted killer Ronald "Shotgun" Garren, 39, slipped out of the Clark County Detention Center in November when a group of other inmates was released.

He was captured days later when police stormed a hotel room where he was staying. In that case, jail officials said an error by its staff was responsible.