Even after a press conference, questions remain about the escape and subsequent capture of John Wesley Saatio, a registered sex offender from the United States who managed to escape from a detention cell in Costa Rica a couple of days ago.

Mr. Saatio was taken into custody by Fuerza Publica officers on foot patrol in San Miguel of Desamparados, not far from the working-class Los Guido neighborhood. He was reportedly at a bus stop around 8:00 am when officers recognized him from his numerous tattoos.

Mr. Saatio was given a highly unusual perpetrator’s (perp) walk, something that is commonly practiced in the United States but that clashes against the judicial process in Costa Rica. Mr. Saatio was paraded before television news cameras and with his face uncovered hours before the official press conference.

So unusual was the perp walk that a radio journalist during press conference posed a question about it to Fuerza Publica Commissioner Juan Jose Andrade:

“Is it just me or did we just make history with this perp walk? Because you have never done that before, unless I am mistaken? It seems highly unusual and historic. Is there some special this time that I am missing? I’m really curious.”

Commissioner Andrade looked uncomfortable as he took exception to the above question:

“I don’t know why you are inserting the double entendre here, but I guess I have to answer you. You [the press] often complain that you don’t get enough access to law enforcement work. I don’t know why we did it this way, this time, today. It just unfolded like that.”

It is commonly accepted in Costa Rica that perp walks, as much as the public demands them from watching the U.S. CNN feeds on cable television, are prejudicial, unfair, and can leave law enforcement and judicial agencies open to potentially lengthy and costly trials should the “perp” be found not guilty, or (even worse) if a defendant was incorrectly brought to trial, coerced or framed.

With regard to the above, Andrew Cohen of The Atlantic gave a succinct summation of perp walks in 2011:

The parading of a criminal suspect in front of the cameras shortly after an arrest, almost always in handcuffs, is not a societal problem like eating too much sugar or playing too many violent video games. It is not a national epidemic like sexting or reality television… [the perp walk] is the result of one of the most cynical conspiracies in all of modern-day criminal justice. It is an officially-sanctioned and eternally re-enacted plot between the media and the police

As recently reported by The Costa Rica Star, Mr. Saatio escaped from the Temporary Detention Center for Immigrants with Irregular Status (Spanish acronym: CATECI), located in the populous Hatillo district of the capital city. At CATECI, Mr. Saatio was being processed for transport back to Green Bay, Michigan, when he decided to initiate an asylum petition. That petition has been summarily denied.

According to a news brief posted by TV6, a news station in Upper Michigan, Mr. Saatio was charged with home invasion, destruction of police property, probation violations, and sex crimes. He managed to escape from custody in Michigan while being transported to a court hearing.

Officers at the CATECI detention center declined to answer to newspaper reporters asked if Mr. Saatio’s escape could be related to an inside job. A similar question went unanswered today.

At the press conference, Commissioner Andrade praised the work of Fuerza Publica officers on foot patrol and credited them with the arrest. He also mentioned that they had listened to select phone calls between Mr. Saatio and a collaborator, but the Commissioner did not specify if those phone calls came from within the CATECI.