Report to result in better monitoring of sex offenders

CALIFORNIA corrections officials say they’re working to improve the monitoring of released sex offenders, responding to a scathing report that cited missed chances to catch the suspect accused of holding Jaycee Dugard captive for 18 years.

The department was slammed in a report by State Inspector General David Shaw for its supervision of convicted sex offender Phillip Garrido, who has been charged with the abduction, rape and imprisonment of Dugard.

When Dugard was reunited with her family in August, police say she had spent 18 years living in a ramshackle backyard compound of tents and sheds with two daughters fathered by Garrido. Dugard repeatedly tried to conceal her identity in the hours before it was revealed, telling authorities she was hiding from an abusive husband in Minnesota and defending Garrido.

“We obviously deeply regret any error that could have possibly resulted in the victims living under these conditions for even one additional day,” said Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation secretary Matthew Cate.

He said legislation taking effect in January should help reduce caseloads and create a risk-based supervision model to ensure the most dangerous offenders receive the closest watch.

Garrido had been under parole supervision because of a 1977 conviction for raping a 25-year-old woman.

He was released from prison in 1988 and placed under federal supervision until 1999, when California took over.