2 More Inmates Freed in Error at County Jail

Despite taking steps to stop the erroneous release of inmates from Los Angeles County Jail, sheriff’s officials said Thursday that they accidentally let go two more prisoners--a convicted burglar awaiting extradition on a rape charge and a man being held on suspicion of brandishing a fake gun.

In all, 23 inmates have been mistakenly let go since the beginning of 1996, mostly because of clerical problems at the jail’s overburdened Inmate Reception Center.

“It’s an embarrassment to the department, the sheriff and myself,” said Sheriff’s Department Chief Barry King, echoing comments made two months ago when the department disclosed that it had accidentally released a fifth homicide suspect in little more than a year.

“We are trying to implement the changes as quickly as possible,” said King, one of two chiefs who oversee the county jails. “But you are talking about significant changes.”

In the latest snafus, a convicted burglar awaiting extradition to Oregon was let go Tuesday after a clerk and a supervisor in the document control room misunderstood the paperwork sent to the jail from an Oregon courthouse.

“They didn’t read the document carefully,” King said.

King said that after the department realized what happened, detectives “hit the streets.” The inmate, Neil Olson, 21, of Hollywood, was taken into custody in Culver City shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday.

In the other case, an inmate being held on the misdemeanor gun charge was let go Wednesday when a clerk overlooked paperwork asking that the inmate be kept in custody because of a parole violation.

The inmate, Lyford J. Perry, 20, of Inglewood, remained at large late Thursday.

King said the two erroneous releases are the first since Oct. 11, when homicide suspect Gregory Stinson was mistakenly freed because a clerk failed to enter information into the computer system asking that Stinson remain in custody.

He was the fifth homicide suspect since July 1995 mistakenly released from the jail, which prompted the Board of Supervisors to order the department to fix the problems. So far, only one of the homicide suspects has been caught.

Top Sheriff’s Department officials blame the problems on an archaic paperwork-processing system. According to King, on any given night, clerks must process more than 6,000 pieces of paper by hand.

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Though stopgap measures--such as asking senior clerks to double-check files on serious offenders--have been put in place, long-term upgrades in the inmate tracking system are years away, officials concede.

They hope to eventually have a computer system online that will link the entire criminal justice system in Los Angeles County.

Appearing before the county’s Judicial Procedures Commission on Thursday, Lt. Rick Adams updated the panel on efforts to fix the antiquated inmate-tracking system.

While he assured the commission--which serves as an advisory committee to the supervisors--that steps were being taken to correct the problems, he warned that mistakes were unavoidable.

“It’s not an easy fix,” said Adams, who was recently assigned to help supervise the jail’s paperwork process. “It would have been fixed overnight if it was.”

Although Adams did not discuss the most recent releases with the commission, panel members said after the meeting that they were not surprised to learn about the latest mistakes, especially given that 2,000 prisoners are processed through the jail system each day.

“In my own personal view, the system is just too big and uncontrollable,” said Steven Gourley, an attorney and the commission’s chairman. “Mistakes are going to happen.”

The 13-member commission--made up of lawyers and court system representatives--has asked for a report on the issue next month, including information on how the inmate tracking system compares with those in other large cities.

“It’s horrible when you let a murderer out,” said Edwin K. Marzec, a lawyer on the commission. “But when you think about the numbers, I think it’s a very good track record.”