DRUGS, LADDER FOUND AT MCNEIL

Discovery of an escape kit and a cache of illegal steroids at the McNeil
Island Corrections Center has prompted a pair of investigations, forced a
temporary shutdown of prison education courses taught by Pierce College
instructors and might lead to criminal charges against an inmate.

The two incidents are unrelated, prison officials said, but occurred about
the same time in early January, as snow and ice blanketed the Puget Sound
region.

The escape kit included a rope ladder made of shoelaces and sawed-off broom
handles. Investigators found it during a routine search of an inmate
leaving the prison law library.

The inmate, Mark Vannausdle, admitted making the ladder. Other tools in his
escape kit included leather gloves and knee and elbow pads.

Vannausdle, 45, is serving a 20-year sentence for robbery and assault,
stemming from a 2002 incident in Pierce County: He commandeered a taxi cab
and shot the driver in the back.

The escape attempt, rare at McNeil Island, might lengthen Vannausdle's
stay. Prison officials have sent the case to the Pierce County Prosecutor's
Office for possible criminal charges.

Prison officials will not discuss the drug cache; they say that
investigation is ongoing.

Sources familiar with the investigation, including inmates who did not want
to be named, say investigators found as many as 100 syringes and doses of
steroids in one of the computer labs where Pierce College instructors teach
classes.

The search of the computer lab followed the discovery of Vannausdle's
escape kit.

"The escape kit was the cause of this," a source said. "They just stumbled
upon the drugs."

Investigators immediately shut down most of the Pierce College learning
extension at the prison, and canceled classes for several weeks.

Eight inmates were thrown into the solitary confinement area known as "the
hole" and interrogated, sources say. All but two have been released.

Most of the Pierce College faculty members have returned, but two computer
labs at the prison remain closed, and the two instructors who teach in them
have not been allowed to return.

Alice Payne, superintendent at McNeil Island, acknowledged the discovery of
drugs, and said the case might be linked to a separate investigation. She
would not discuss any other details, and would not say when the computer
labs will reopen or when the two instructors will return.

"I really can't disclose anything yet," she said. "We're just not done."

Payne said she sees no indication that Pierce College instructors played an
active role in the drug case.

"From what I know now, I'm not suspecting criminal intent," she said.

Ed Brewster, vice president of Pierce College's extended learning program,
said he knew an investigation was under way, but little more.

"All I can tell you is that DOC (Department of Corrections) is conducting
an investigation in our program area out there," he said. "I know very
little about the specifics."

Brewster said no faculty members have been disciplined to his knowledge.

The Pierce College extension at the prison, established in 1981, provides
adult basic education in an effort to help inmates become productive
citizens when their sentences end. Inmates can take courses to complete a
general education certificate.

"Our concern and our priority is to get these guys basic skills," said
Corrina McElfish, prison spokeswoman.

The college extension also offers vocational training, including courses in
welding, computer programming and computer repair. A total of 15
instructors teach classes Monday through Friday. Average class sizes range
from 15 to 20 inmates.

Pierce College instructors working at the prison must pass a criminal
background check and complete a five-week correctional worker training
program, McElfish said.

After completing the training, instructors receive identification badges
that grant them the same access to the prison as guards and other employees.

Unlike prison visitors, those groups are not searched when they enter and
leave the prison, nor do they go through metal detectors, McElfish said.
Employees and instructors are expected to report security violations, such
as the smuggling of contraband.