Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar is promising action and has already suspended one high ranking official following the 'mistaken' release of two inmates from the Bexar County Jail in the past two weeks, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"Officer negligence, I'll be honest, lets call it what it is, and lack of supervisory oversight," Salazar said of the two releases.
Late last year there was another mistaken release from the Bexar County Jail, and earlier last year three men charged with murder managed to escape from the jail, although they were re-arrested a short time later.
Over the weekend, a man was released from the jail without a court ordered GPS monitor. That man was personally re-arrested by Salazar at an east side home on Sunday. Earlier this month, a man was released from the jail by officials who didn't notice that he was named in an immigration hold by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is a potential violation of the state's anti sanctuary city law.
"Rather than overreact emotionally, because I was very upset," Salazar said of the latest accidental release, "I placed him (a jail administrator) on temporary suspension, and we will talk about it in the next coming days."
Salazar pointed out that the jail is in line for a state inspection, which could come any day now, and he also wants to make sure that the jail is ready to pass that inspection.
Salazar said it is not too much to ask that the Bexar County Jail be as secure as your neighborhood Costco store.
"You can't walk out of Costco or Sam's without somebody approaching you and asking to see your receipt, your documentation," he said. The Sheriff said that is the least he can ask of officials who guard 4,000 of Bexar County's accused and convicted criminals.
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