PITCHESS STEPS UP SECURITY.

Byline: Orith Goldberg Staff Writer

CASTAIC - Once a fenceless jail where inmates worked out their sentences on the honor system, the Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center has steadily moved toward heightened security.

As escapes became more common and the surrounding Santa Clarita Valley quickly developed, minimum-security was no longer feasible.

Today, three of the four jails at the Pitchess complex in Castaic - the North, South and East facilities - are protected by 25-foot chain-link fence with rounded razor ribbon on the top.

The North Facility has added a second row of fencing with an electronic alarm system that would be triggered if someone reached the top of the fence.

And a second fence topped with razor ribbon is going up at the South Facility. Security at the Pitchess jails has come by trial and error, the greatest test being the inmates themselves.

``It's a great education to learn to deal with the criminal mind,'' said Bud DeVusser, operations deputy for the four jails. ``You look at the inmate as an educator.''

The heaviest security is at the fourth jail, the North County Correctional Facility, which is surrounded by a concrete wall and a state-of-the-art electronic security system with strategically positioned cameras.

Still there are escapes - far more failures than successes, but nevertheless a security concern. An elaborate warning system is in place.

When an inmate flees, an escape plan is quickly initiated. Air raid sirens purchased from the Navy go off, jail gates are locked, freeway signs warn motorists not to pick up hitchhikers and residents in nearby neighborhoods are advised to lock their doors.

Several years ago, guards watched as one inmate after another tried to climb a fence to escape the $45 million North Facility, built in 1987 to house minimum- to moderate-security inmates.

Eleven of the 14 never made it over the fence. Of the three who got over the fence, one escaped the property and later was apprehended while the two others did not get away.

``One guy lost a thumb and his hands were all shredded by the razors,'' DeVusser said.

The North Facility, with room for 1,556 minimum- to maximum-security inmates, has a sophisticated intrusion alarm and closed-circuit television systems.

The South Facility, the only barracks-style jail at Pitchess, was built in 1971 as a jail hospital, but converted to a lighter security jail. The 1,966 inmates there are the only ones allowed outside the jail grounds for work programs.

The East Facility - built in 1951 - is the oldest operating jail in the county. Now a maximum-security jail, it houses 1,974 inmates.

Unlike the other jails, the North County Correctional Facility houses felons, including those jailed on ``three-strike'' offenses and awaiting sentencing to state prison. NCCF, served by several security cameras, is surrounded by a concrete wall next to a deep drainage ditch that acts much like a moat.

Built in 1989, the complex consists of five housing units, with a total capacity of 3,982 inmates.

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Photo: The North Facility has added a second row of fencing and a new alarm system.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer