$21.1M settlement for Jaycee Dugard

SACRAMENTO, July 1 (UPI) -- The California Assembly Thursday approved a $21.1 million settlement for kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard, who was held captive for 18 years in northern California.

Dugard and her two daughters, in claims filed with the state Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, accused the state of negligence, arguing that parole officers should have discovered she was being held against her will in a backyard prison made up of tents and sheds when they visited Phillip Garrido at his home in Antioch, Calif.

Dugard was 11 when she was abducted near her South Lake Tahoe home. Garrido -- a registered sex offender who had been on parole since January 1988 and allegedly fathered her two daughters -- was arrested after Dugard told police her story.

State officials have disclosed Garrido had been under the supervision of the state parole system and had at least five parole officers, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Garrido and his wife, Nancy, have been charged with 29 felony counts and have both entered pleas of not guilty.

The state Department of Justice recommended the payment and the governor's budget office approved it, the newspaper said. The settlement was approved in a bill that passed on a 30-1 vote in the state Senate and a 62-0 vote in the Assembly, CNN reported.