Federal officials discharged Garrido from federal parole in March 1999. He was technically under the supervision of Nevada authorities because of his conviction for the 1976 rape, which took place in Reno. But in June 1999 he became the responsibility of California parole agents because he was living in Antioch.
During the next 10 years, California parole agents failed repeatedly to supervise him properly, the Inspector General found, missing opportunities to detect Dugard -- as well as the two daughters she bore to Garrido -- at the home.
He was under "passive GPS" monitoring, meaning he was required to wear a monitoring device that was reviewed at certain times to see where he had been. And he was one of 40 parolees assigned to his agent.
Following Dugard's rescue, corrections officials called a press conference to label the parole agent a "hero" for discovering her, and corrections officials continued after that to state that he had acted "by the book" and should be commended for finally discovering her.
Cate said this afternoon that his department could have done more.
"The circumstances surrounding the kidnapping and 18 year disappearance of Jaycee Dugard are horrendous," said Cate, who is scheduled to appear with Shaw later today when the full report is released. "The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is committed to improving its operations every day to ensure an incident like this never happens again. The Department appreciates the efforts of the Office of the Inspector General to assist in our mission."
Neighbors had called area law enforcement about their concerns that children were living in the back yard in tents, but authorities never discovered Dugard until after Garrido went to the UC Berkeley campus with her and her daughters and aroused the suspicions of campus police, who called his parole agent.
It was only then that the agent summoned Garrido to his office, and when he showed up with Dugard and the girls, he finally discovered who she was.
Shaw's office issued a series of recommendations, including the need to:
* Enforce appropriate standards for parole agents to properly supervise assigned parolees and for parole supervisors to properly supervise parole agents.
* Ensure that all sex offender parolees have been correctly assessed for their risks to re-offend using the department's revised assessment tool.
* Require parole agents to obtain parole information from federal or other state parole authorities when a parolee has been recently supervised by these entities.
* Establish a mechanism to obtain and share information with local public safety agencies.
Phillip Garrido, 58, and Nancy Garrido, 54, are being held in the El Dorado County Jail on kidnap, rape and other charges that could send them both to prison for life. They both have pleaded not guilty and face their next court appearance. Dec. 11.
Call The Bee's Sam Stanton, (916) 321-1091.
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