Police searching for two Geiger inmates

Geiger Corrections investigators and Spokane police are searching for two inmates, one who was mistakenly released on Tuesday and the other who escaped on Wednesday.

Steven J. Siversten, 34, escaped out of a van Wednesday afternoon when he was being transported from the Superior Court to the Airway Heights facility, Geiger Custody Manager Brett Sobosky said. He was being taken back to Geiger after he failed to post bond.

Siversten was prepared to post $10,000 bond for possession of a controlled substance, Sobosky said. Additional charges of delivery of controlled substances pushed his bond to $20,000, and the suspect didn’t have the money.

Eric D. Peterson, 32, was mistakenly released Tuesday from the correctional center.

He was sentence to 15 months in prison Monday after pleading guilty to two counts of possession of a controlled substance – methamphetamine. He was supposed to be returned to the Spokane County Jail. Instead, Peterson was released with two other Geiger inmates who had completed their sentences, Geiger Director Leon Long said.

“We had a fairly new officer on,” Long said. “Two people were being released, and one was supposed to be going back to the jail and was released, too.”

Last July, Geiger corrections officers released an inmate a year early and didn’t realize the mistake until the man’s frightened ex-girlfriend called to say he had phoned her, saying, “I’m out.”

Francine Boxer, who was Geiger’s director at the time, said that error was the result of a filing system that only sorted inmates’ release dates by month, rather than month and year.

Geiger did not notify the public of that inmate’s early release until asked about it by The Spokesman-Review. This time Geiger notified local media immediately about Peterson’s mistaken release.

After last year’s incident, Boxer said the problem was fixed.

Asked how another inmate was let go without serving his sentence, Long said that he is investigating the matter.

“Sometimes officers are in the control room who aren’t supposed to be,” said Long.

He also said Geiger may create a new releasing officer position. That officer would be the inmates’ last contact and would be responsible for double-checking paperwork.