Escaped inmate from Ventura County conservation camp is back in custody

Authorities late Thursday said an inmate firefighter who escaped a Central Coast conservation camp by cutting a hole through a perimeter fence is back in custody.

Bobby Gleason, 37, was discovered missing from Ventura Conservation Camp No. 46, in Camarillo, at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Lt. Derrick Taylor, camp commander. Staff searched the camp and found that Gleason, who was serving time for burglary, had cut a hole in a fence and walked away.

The facility is located in an agricultural area, next to raspberry and strawberry fields.

It remains unclear what Gleason used to cut the fence, Taylor said. He was captured without incident around 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the city of Vista by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Special Services Unit, after a short foot chase, the department said in a statement.

Gleason will be held in a local correctional facility pending transfer back to Sierra Conservation Center, a state prison. Prosecution for the escape will be sought through the Ventura County district attorney’s office, the agency said Friday.

“Since he has an escape now, he’ll never come back to a camp,” Taylor said.

Security measures at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation conservation camps include frequent head counts. Inmates are counted “probably 12 times a day,” Taylor said.

Gleason was last seen at 10:20 p.m. “It was a very small window” of time for the escape, Taylor said.

Gleason was convicted of burglary in San Diego County and sentenced to nine years of imprisonment as a so-called second striker. He was scheduled for release on Aug. 6, 2019.

There are 44 conservation camps across the state that house close to 4,000 inmates. Fire crews composed of state prisoners have been part of the state’s wildfire-fighting arsenal since the late 1940s.

In February, a female inmate firefighter died after being struck by a falling boulder in Malibu while working a fire line. She was the first female inmate in state history to lose her life while battling a wildfire.

Of all the offenders who have escaped from an adult institution, camp or community-based program since 1977, 98.7% have been apprehended, the corrections department said in a statement.

“It doesn’t happen very often,” Taylor said. “But it has happened.”

Twitter: @brittny_mejia

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