COMMUNITY UNFAZED BY AREA JAIL'S PROXIMITY.

Byline: Orith Goldberg Staff Writer

CASTAIC - Many of the residents who flocked to Castaic's new neighborhoods over the past decade had no idea that Los Angeles County's largest jail was just across the Golden State Freeway.

Local real estate brokers said the law does not require them to disclose to potential buyers that their homes are located near a detention facility - one that has seen 22 escapes in the past five years.

Mark Jenkins, an agent at Prudential Success Realty in Valencia, said that if such disclosure were mandated, somewhere a line would be drawn encircling the area where notification would be required.

``(The facility) has been there for 50 years, we don't normally disclose it,'' he said. ``We have never had an incident where people who escape have caused injury to people.''

Jenkins and Linda Wedhoff of Century 21 Newhall Valencia Realty pointed out that there is a big Pitchess sign next to the Golden State Freeway at the exit to the jail.

Wedhoff said while it is not ``written in stone,'' she recommends that her real estate agents disclose the proximity of the facility to buyers.

Despite past escapes, area residents said they aren't worried about security. An elaborate system involving sirens and phone notifications is in place in case of an escape.

That system was established following a March 1995 escape of 14 inmates who fled the center's North Facility.

Within a day, 12 of those escapees were captured. The 13th escapee was later caught, but one remains outstanding.

The mass escape opened the eyes of several residents who didn't realize the jail was there - and that it housed some maximum-security offenders in the area.

Area resident Arlene Norman said when she moved into her home about five years ago, she understood that Pitchess housed only inmates awaiting trial on minor charges.

Norman, 45, whose home is across the freeway from Pitchess, recalled the hair-raising escape in 1995 that riled up the neighborhood.

Some of the 14 escapees scattered throughout her neighborhood, and one scaled her fence into her back yard.

``My son was getting ready for work and my daughter-in-law ran outside to see what was going on,'' Norman recalled. ``All of the sudden, she locked eyes on the guy in the back yard and started to scream. My son ran out and took off after him.''

Since then, escapes prompt sirens to sound at Pitchess, the Castaic Sports Complex and in Stevenson Ranch to alert residents to lock their doors, windows and garages, activate their home security systems, monitor their children and turn on the television or radio to receive additional information.

Area resident Erica Aguilar, 43, said there are captains of the Neighborhood Watch that keep residents apprised of what is happening after an alarm sounds.

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Photo:

Senior Deputy Bud DeVusser walks along the fence at the Pitchess Detention Center North Facility.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer