Breakdown in jail systems threaten public security

Somewhere out there, a child is in danger.

Somewhere out there, a community is in danger of waking up in the morning to find out a neighbor has been killed in his or her home.

The release of inmate Gregory Stinson earlier this month makes it a total of five homicide suspects since 1995 that have mistakenly been released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. These prisoners are still at large.

These errors are partly due to flaws in the Sheriff's Department's system for tracking inmates.

Reported in the Los Angeles Times, by the end of most nights, a hundred or more inmate files are shoved into a metal bin rightfully labeled "TROUBLE." This paperwork is so mind boggling that document clerks cannot tell whether inmates should be further imprisoned or freed.

The next day, these files are handed over to a team of clerks called "trouble shooters" who are supposed to contact the court the next day to clear up the problems. Sometimes these files do not reach the "TROUBLE" bin and this is where the problem starts.

In addition to this problem are a number of other factors that contribute to what the sheriff's officials have dubbed the "Pony Express" because of how outdated the system is.

Being understaffed is one problem.

For the 2,000 court cases that come from 36 courthouses a day, there are only 30 clerks, the Times reported.

These same clerks work late into the night sorting, inputting and filing paperwork, the Times further reported.

In addition to the lack of manpower, the clerks have to put up with the sloppy writing of a court clerk who can't seem to write legibly.

This was the reason that Stinson was reported to have been released because a clerk failed to enter information on his charges into the computer.

There are just not enough clerks to do the job. The system is almost three decades old and needs to be changed. The clerks are human and they make mistakes just like everyone else does. It is not the clerks who need to be changed, but the jail system.

It is reported that before the prisoner's files are completed and filed away, the paperwork is handled by at least half a dozen people. This is were mistakes occur and have already occurred.

The process goes on and by the time it reaches maybe the fifth person, the secret has completely changed because so many people have changed the information around.

It is the same with how the paperwork is handled in the jail system. By the time a file reaches the last clerk, information could have been changed or deleted because information is at times hard to read and because there is a lack of workers.

It is reported the sheriff's officials are looking to install a computer system that will connect the courts and the Sheriff's Department.

By doing this, it could probably reduce some of the stress that jail clerks go through every day. It could also be a way for court clerks to just simply enter the information into the computer and save their scribbling for something else.

But just as important is that homicide suspects would be where they belong behind bars. Equally important is society as a whole would be a lot safer without adding to its problems by having prisoners on its streets.

Tino Poti is a reporter for the Daily Forty-Niner.