Troubled New Orleans jail apologizes after releasing detainee by mistake
Khalil Bryan, 30, was being held on a $100,000 bench warrant related to a failure to appear for arraignment on charges of aggravated assault with a firearm, domestic abuse child endangerment and home invasion, officials said. He was also being held on other charges as well as a warrant from a neighboring jurisdiction.
Nonetheless, while processing a bond posted for another inmate by an unrelated person, deputies for the sheriff's office operating the jail failed to properly verify the inmate's identity and mistakenly released Bryan instead, said the office of the local district attorney, Jason Williams.
Williams's office said in a statement that Bryan's erroneous release underscored 'the ongoing systemic issues surround the exercise of custody and control over detained individuals'.
'The failure to properly confirm the identity of an inmate prior to release is an unacceptable lapse that presents a real and immediate risk to public safety,' Williams's office said.
A statement from the sheriff in charge of the jail, Susan Hutson, said her office took 'full responsibility for the clerical error that led to the mistaken release of Khalil Bryan'.
'We offer our sincere apology to the public, our law enforcement partners, and the court,' Hutson's statement said. 'This incident was the result of human error: a misidentification based on a shared last name between two individuals. We are … conducting a full internal investigation, and I can confirm that disciplinary actions will occur.'
Hutson pledged that her office would collaborate with efforts to 'ensure [Bryan's] swift return to custody'.
The sheriff has been under withering political criticism after 10 men in custody at the New Orleans jail escaped the facility on 16 May in one of the largest jailbreaks in recent US history.
Authorities said the men yanked open a faulty cell door inside the New Orleans jail, squeezed through a hole behind a toilet, scaled a barbed-wire fence and fled into the dark. Their escapes were undetected for hours.
Nine of the escapers have been recaptured, and investigators have arrested people who are accused of helping them in some fashion. The 10th escaper – Derrick Groves, who had been convicted of two murders and had pleaded guilty to a pair of other killings – remained at large as of Friday.
Hutson has said she plans to run for re-election in October despite a recent poll which estimated her public approval rating was at a dismal 18%. Challengers who have signed up to run against her are also outpacing her in terms of campaign finances.
The New Orleans jail has been subject to federal monitoring for years as well as a consent decree aimed at improving conditions there.
Guardian reporting partner WWL Louisiana contributed reporting
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