PENDLETON, Ore. -- A county sheriff who wanted to test his jail's security system says he learned a few things from the convicted killer he tricked into an escape attempt that was secretly videotaped.
Umatilla County Sheriff Jim Carey said Wednesday that convicted murderer Stanley Bernson, 52, of Spokane, Wash., who is awaiting trail in another slaying, was chosen because he has planned elaborate escape attempts in the past and jailers believed his actions could point out any flaws in the security system.
'It went very well,' Carey said of the weekend ruse. 'We noted what his reactions were and had several alternate plans in case he reacted differently. We felt the risks were minimal, far less than the value of what we got in information.'
One lesson the jailers learned, Carey said, was that guards should not carry their wallets on duty.
Using a small pistol that had been disabled and loaded with blanks, Bernson ordered two unarmed guards who approached his cell to hand over their wallets.
'We discovered something that hadn't dawned on me before,' Carey said. 'Corrections officers shouldn't carry their wallets in the jail. If he'd gotten their credit cards and jail identification, he might have been able to get through a roadblock somewhere down the line.'
Bernson is serving a life prison sentence for the 1979 murder of a woman from Richland, Wash., and is waiting trial for the 1978 murder of a 15-year-old Oregon girl.
Bernson also has been a suspect in the deaths of as many as 30 women in Oregon, Idaho, Washington and Montana, but authorities believe his connections to the serial slayings may have beenthe result only of his own jailhouse boasts.
The sheriff said Bernson's latest escape attempt began when he approached a guard and offered him $98,000 to help him break out. As part of the ruse, the guard smuggled Bernson a gun whose firing pin had been removed. The bullets had no powder in them, the sheriff said, and the gun was too small to be used as a club.
After Bernson ordered the guards into his cell, he made his way into a locked corridor. With a video camera rolling, Bernson negotiated with guards for 22 minutes before giving up, Carey said.
Carey said he would consider a similar test of security in the future.
'This is an ongoing thing to us,' the sheriff said. 'We think it's a serious matter that we control him and know our own weaknesses. He comes across as a personable guy. It's easy to forget he's a dangerous man.'
Carey said Bernson has tried to escape three times since being transferred to the jail from the Washington State Penitentiary in 1986.
'They've been fairly bizarre,' he said. 'In one, he planned to use a helicopter. In another, he planned to have people outside kidnap a control operator's son.'
Carey said a report would be sent to the District Attorney's Office for possible prosecution on attempted escape charges. Bernson's lawyer declined comment because of a judge's gag order on the pending murder case.
