Fifty Years Later, a Rookie Deputy Steve Ferdin Recalls a Night That Turned Deadly for Hijacker Fred Solomon
SAN JOSE — It has been half a century since a young Santa Clara County deputy worked the overnight shift on the second floor of the old main jail, a night that began with routine cell checks and ended with a brush with infamy.
In September 1975, fresh from the academy, the rookie deputy was assigned to monitor roughly 250 inmates, his partner absent for reasons long forgotten. Only a single inmate trustee shared the duty…