Convicted Rogue Valley rapist, kidnapper and three-time prison escapee Leighton Bates is back in a special lockdown at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem after he took a female guard hostage there late Monday before releasing her unharmed early Tuesday.

A former Medford and Central Point resident who was considered one of the Rogue Valley’s most dangerous predatory sex offenders, Bates used a homemade weapon called a "shank" to take Cpl. Rebecca McLauchin hostage in a 560-bed medium-security unit.

Details about how Bates took McLauchin hostage or how they crossed paths in the 560-bed medium-security unit were not known Tuesday, said Perrin Damon, communications director for the Oregon Department of Corrections.

McLauchin was released uninjured at 1 a.m. Tuesday, three hours after her abduction, Damon said.

Bates, who has a 20-plus-year history of rapes and prison escapes in Oregon, had been "transitioning" from the penitentiary’s maximum-security unit to "close-custody" status when Monday’s incident occurred, Damon said.

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Bates had been in the maximum-security unit since his latest escape in 2001, and had been on close-custody status — where inmates are among the general population but watched more closely — since Feb. 7, Damon said.

After his surrender, Bates was placed in a special unit, where he likely will receive a psychiatric evaluation, Damon said.

The Oregon State Police and the corrections department both are investigating the incident.

Before the hostage-taking, Bates had racked up enough felony convictions to make Aug. 25, 2057, his earliest possible release date, corrections records show.

Bates was convicted of a string of rapes dating back to 1979 in Jackson County.

In December 2001, Bates escaped from the Oregon State Correctional Institution by hiding inside a stack of empty milk cartons before they were shrink-wrapped and hauled away. He later kidnapped and raped a Salem woman before he was captured two days later when a state corrections fugitive inspector spotted him rolling a cigarette outside a Salem restaurant.

Bates was convicted of nine felonies, including first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy, stemming from that crime spree while on the lam.

That escape also prompted recommendations for increased security and other changes.

In 1992, he escaped from a minimum-security facility in Eastern Oregon but was later captured. In 1984, he scaled a fence at the medium-security prison in Salem and was captured immediately.

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com