Rick Binetti, a spokesman for the state Corrections Department, said that many procedures were not followed, leading up to the morning escape, and that the department was investigating.
As of yesterday, Barron was under internal investigation but had not faced any disciplinary action.
Binetti said that the department transports about 5,500 criminals to court each month and that such lapses are rare.
Barron testified yesterday that she picked up Anderson, 22, in the lobby of the department's Pre-Release Unit in Jessup and took him to a "road crew" van - a standard, unmodified passenger van.
At about 9 a.m., she drove him a half-block to the adjacent Brockbridge Correctional Facility, where a transport unit should have been waiting to take him to court, she said.
When she got there, Barron said, she was told that the transport van had already left.
She reported the problem to a supervisor, who replied, "Oh Lord. OK," and hung up, Barron said.
Supervisors didn't tell Barron to bring Anderson to court "in so many words, but they didn't tell me to bring him back," she said, later adding, "I assumed they wanted me to take him on downtown."
Perez said Barron had "left the cell phone she was supposed to carry."
But Barron said the department had not issued her one that day. The van she was driving, which is normally used to transport inmates working on road crews, did not have a radio, she said.
Barron, a 19-year veteran of the Corrections Department, testified that after Anderson fled, "there was nothing for me to do but proceed. I had a green light. Vehicles were blowing their horns. I reported to the garage [at the courthouse] ... and notified the sheriff, the Jessup Pre-Release Unit and 911."
Anderson, of the 800 block of Herndon Court in South Baltimore, was serving a three-year sentence for violating his probation in a drug-dealing case. A separate drug conviction sparked the probation violation.
Anyone with information about his escape is asked to call 911.
melissa.harris@baltsun.com
