The former inmate at a Baltimore halfway house accused of shooting another man told police that it was relatively easy to leave the facility at night, according to a tape recording played in court yesterday.

In Baltimore Circuit Court, prosecutors played the audio recording from May in which Nolan L. Evans insisted to detectives that he never shot Larry Parks. Parks died from his injuries in November 2006.

But Evans - son of death row inmate Vernon Lee Evans Jr. - also acknowledged on the tape that he had been able to stay out of the halfway house on East Monument Street at night, and told the homicide detectives that it would be possible for an inmate to spend an entire weekend away from the partially secure facility.

Residents at the Volunteers of American Comprehensive Sanction Center, a motel-like halfway house, are generally allowed to work and attend appointments during the day but are supposed to stay in at night.

The facility has experienced security problems, with supervisors suspected of taking bribes from inmates dating back to at least 2000. However, law enforcement officials have never charged the supervisors with a crime.

During a spot-check in April last year, 10 inmates were discovered missing from the halfway house, and two probationary employees suspected of accepting bribes from those inmates were fired as a result.

Six years earlier, two employees at the facility were convicted of accepting bribes from inmates so they could freely wander the city's streets at night.

The Evans murder trial comes as Volunteers of America's contract to operate the halfway house is expiring; federal officials are undecided about whether to renew the contract.

During the trial, Evans' attorney is expected to argue that records show her client was at the VOA halfway house at the time of the shooting in April 2006. But prosecutors are expected to argue that the facility does not lock down its inmates securely enough to prove that he was there.

matthew.dolan@baltsun.com