2 More Jailbreak Fugitives Are Caught by Police : Escape: County officials seek funding to tighten security as nine inmates from Chula Vista jail remain at large.

Two more of the 13 inmates who fled the County Jail in Chula Vista in the county’s biggest jailbreak were recaptured Friday. Meanwhile, county and Sheriff’s Department officials took steps to patch security leaks in problem-plagued county jails.

The arrests of Carlos Renteria, 27, and Michael Walker, 29, along with the capture of two inmates shortly after their escape Wednesday, leaves nine inmates at large, according to Deputy Robbie Hill, a Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.

The escapees considered to be the most dangerous--three of whom are suspected of murder--are still being sought, Hill added.

The Sheriff’s Department has taken several steps to recapture the inmates, including notifying Mexican authorities, assigning special officers, and informing law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Also Friday, Supervisor Brian Bilbray drafted a proposal asking the county Board of Supervisors to immediately allocate funds to secure the windows at the South Bay jail. The proposal, which is expected to be addressed by the board Tuesday, also asks the Sheriff’s Department to identify and evaluate other security deficiencies at the facility.

In addition, Board Chairman Leon Williams drafted a proposal asking county and Sheriff’s Department officials to conduct a comprehensive security review of all county jails.

On Wednesday evening, the 13 inmates escaped from the jail by sawing through steel bars with hacksaws smuggled in through an open window, authorities said.

The men escaped about 8:45 p.m. by sawing through two bars--each about 5 inches deep, 1.5 inches wide and 2 feet tall--and then using the bars to smash through a window. Sheriff’s Capt. Chuck Wood, who runs the South Bay jail, said alarms installed on the windows when the jail was built in 1982 are no longer operative.

Walker, 29--accused of possessing stolen property--was recaptured by San Diego police officers shortly before 3 a.m. Friday, when an anonymous caller informed authorities that Walker was driving a gray Ford Mustang with a missing left taillight. Police found Walker at 4th Avenue and Juniper Street and arrested him without incident, authorities said.

Carlos Renteria, 27--jailed on suspicion of robbery--was recaptured by San Diego police in Encanto about 11 a.m. Friday, when officers responded to a call about a burglary in progress in the 6100 block of Brooklyn Avenue. Two police officers suffered minor injuries while trying to apprehend Renteria, who resisted arrest.

Sheriff’s Department officials said that Christopher Bell, 21, is considered the most dangerous of the nine men still at large. Bell is charged with robbery and assault and is considered the key suspect in the October slaying of a La Mesa man who was kidnaped at a bank automatic teller machine and slain execution style. Bell was being held without bail.

At a press conference after the jailbreak, an angry Wood blamed the incident on overcrowded conditions and the failure of the county government to respond to requests for improvements in the facility’s security system.

Although disturbed that his requests for expensive detection cameras and sophisticated alarms had been shunned because of the county’s fiscal woes, Wood seemed particularly distressed about the county General Services Department’s failure to put grating or wire mesh on the outside of the jail’s windows.

In hindsight, officials agree, that simple preventive measure could have foiled the jailbreak. An investigation by authorities has determined that somebody lowered the hacksaws by rope to the inmates from a public walkway 15 feet above one of the jail’s unattended windows.

Unlike the poorly constructed County Jail in El Cajon that is riddled with problems--inmates have been able to escape from that facility by kicking holes through the walls--authorities say the South Bay facility is well built and fairly secure. Therefore, without the hacksaws, authorities say, the inmates could not have escaped.

But Robert Griego, who, as the county’s deputy chief administrative officer, oversees the general services department, denied that his department was to blame. He said the department simply lacked the funds to carry out jail improvements.

More important, Griego said, the lack of wire mesh was never described to his department as a security problem.

“I took a tour of the facility and when I talked to Captain Wood the main thing he was disturbed about was the pigeon droppings that were accumulating outside the windows,” Griego said. “Apparently that was a health risk, so he asked me to put (wire mesh) up to keep the pigeons out. He never told me it was needed to tighten up security.”

In December, a financially strapped general services department forwarded Wood’s request for window mesh, alarms and security cameras to a special county committee with the authority to distribute money earmarked for justice facility improvements, Griego said.

“Stopping pigeon pooping wasn’t considered a high priority, so the request was rejected,” Griego said. “If it was identified as a needed security measure, if it was really dramatized, maybe we could have tried harder to get the money.”

But David Janssen, the county’s deputy chief administrative officer, said the request still would have been denied.

“It wouldn’t have mattered because we didn’t have any money left anyway,” said Janssen referring to a $3.9-million fund of local fines and forfeitures that state law requires be set aside for improvement of justice facilities.

On Friday, Wood declined to say whether he told general services staff that the lack of wire mesh posed a security risk.

“There’s no point debating this in the press,” Wood said. “I am not going to engage in any finger-pointing. That’s not important. My intent is to address these security issues with a spirit of cooperation.

“And I’m getting a very, very satisfactory response (from county officials),” Wood said. “We’re looking at everything from fences to television cameras to motion sensors. . . . We are looking at everything that can help alleviate this from ever happening again.” Wood said the windows will be made inaccessible to the inmates immediately.

“I had 14 people escape. . . . I was very sensitive to that. . . . I was very upset,” said Wood about comments he made at the press conference implying that the county had ignored his requests. “Sometimes I put in work orders, and sometimes I talk with people in high places (to get things accomplished). You wait for a response but you realize these people can’t promise you anything.”

Sheriff’s Department officials initially reported that 14 inmates had escaped, but that count was revised to 13 after jail officials determined that Christopher Brown, charged with violating probation, had never left the jail.

County and Sheriff’s Department officials--who, in the past, have often blamed each other for the jail woes--curbed criticism and instead expressed frustration over the lack of solutions to solve the county’s jail problems.

“Our jails are at 183% capacity,” said Asst. Sheriff Ken Wigginton, who oversees the county’s detention facilities. “We have 1,900 inmates more than we have rated beds for. The county has a real serious money problem. I don’t know how we’re going to solve this.”

Bilbray added: “We just don’t have the money to take comprehensive preventive measures. Right now, we’re looking at each weak link in the system as it appears and are trying to make sure that no weak link is exploited twice by a prisoner.

“Keep in mind that (South Bay) is one of our better facilities,” Bilbray added. “But they found the Achilles heel and they got outside help.”

The escapees used bed sheets to lower themselves 40 feet to the ground. Jail officials were not aware of the escape until a passer-by called 911 after seeing inmates getting in a car outside the jail. Two of the inmates were quickly recaptured.

The jail has a staff of 53 deputies, but no more than a dozen are on duty at night. Understaffing prevents deputies from standing guard outside the jail around the clock, Wigginton said. But he added that deputies patrol the jail grounds about four times per 12-hour shift. The Chula Vista jail is built to house 192 inmates but contains more than 750.