Why were three Erie County Holding Center inmates mistakenly released over the past few months? Erie County Sheriff Timothy Howard went before the Legislature’s Public Safety Committee Tuesday to try to explain.
In the latest incident a couple of weeks ago, a suspected car thief, Paris Williams, was freed from the Holding Center when another man whose last name is also Williams should have been released.
Sheriff Howard told the committee that while mitigating factors, including an out-of-date computer record-keeping system, were partially to blame, two deputies did not do the job they were supposed to do.
"Two separate individuals demonstrated blatant complacency and didn’t do the most basic... one of the most basic things that deputies learn to do in a jail, and that’s when Mr. Williams was called for court didn’t look at the bracelet that has the inmate’s last name, first name, and inmate control number," said Sheriff Howard.
The deputies were subsequently disciplined. Paris Williams was quickly recaptured once the mistake was realized.