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Mayor hopes first escape will be last

Edgefield, S.C., leader to talk with officials about drug dealer who walked away from prison

Web posted June 29, 1998

By Pat Willis
South Carolina Bureau

EDGEFIELD, S.C. -- Mayor John Pettigrew does not want the escape of a convicted drug dealer from Edgefield's federal prison to become a preview of coming events.

``I don't want this to happen again,'' the mayor said Sunday. ``I hope it's not a pattern.''

The escapee, Raymon Alonzo, 36, walked away Saturday morning from the minimum security campus of the Edgefield Federal Correctional Institution.

He was serving a 14-year sentence on convictions of conspiracy, cocaine distribution and possession of more than five kilograms of cocaine.

Mr. Pettigrew learned of the escape Saturday afternoon when Edgefield police showed him a photo of Mr. Alonzo.

He has not yet discussed the incident with prison officials, but said he intends to do so today.

``I certainly hope they will take better precautions in the future,'' Mr. Pettigrew said.

Inmates began arriving at the new prison a little less than three months ago. Mr. Alonzo's escape is the only such incident since inmates began arriving, authorities said.

Mr. Alonzo was last seen at 5 a.m. Saturday during a prisoner head count, prison spokesman Mike Smith said. The inmate was missing by the next count at 10 a.m.

Guards count the prisoners five times daily, Mr. Smith said. In addition, supervisors make an accounting of prisoners in work details every two hours. An additional check is made at 10 a.m. on weekends.

Mr. Alonzo is not considered dangerous or violent, according to the Edgefield County Sheriff's Office. County law enforcement officers are helping federal marshals who arrived Saturday in Edgefield.

``It is standard procedure for federal marshals to direct the search for walkaways,'' Mr. Smith said.

Housed in the minimum security camp outside the prison walls, Mr. Alonzo was at the midpoint of his prison term. He was scheduled for release in December 2004.

Mr. Alonzo, a native of Cuba, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, but he lived in southern Florida.

When plans for a federal prison in Edgefield were made public in July 1990, area residents met more than a half-dozen times with the Edgefield County Council to speak against bringing the prison to the county.

Mr. Pettigrew, then a private citizen, was among those initially skeptical about the prison.

One of 25 county residents and officials who toured a federal prison in Marianna, Ga., he returned to Edgefield believing the prison could become an asset to the rural county.

At the time, he said he changed his views because there had been no escapes from the Marianna prison during its two years of operation.

The county council's vote in favor of building the prison in Edgefield County followed more than 1 1/2 hours of debate with 150 people demonstrating their opposition.

U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., who supported bringing the federal facility to Edgefield, asked for county council approval before putting his home county's bid in the hopper. Edgefield was selected in 1992.

Mr. Alonzo and other minimum security inmates began arriving in April, before the prison's main section was completed. They were brought in to assist in finishing, maintenance and grounds work, Mr. Smith said.

The minimum-security dormitories, outside the walls of the main prison, are built to hold 520 inmates.

The more than 1,500 medium- and maximum-security inmates to be housed behind the prison's walls in the main section are expected to begin arriving in early November, Mr. Smith said.