BEXAR COUNTY – People who should be out of jail aren’t, and people who shouldn’t be are, an allegation made by one local defense attorney.
The county implemented a new criminal software system called Odyssey to simplify the justice system process; however, issues have been ongoing for over a week.
On Tuesday’s KSAT Q&A, Bobby Barrera, the former president of San Antonio’s Bar Association, discussed the system’s implementation.
“People who should have been released that weren’t, and there’s some significant information supporting that people who should not have been released are now free on the streets, and the computers still show they’re in jail and they’re out,” he said.
You can listen to the full exchange below:
His information is the opposite of what a county official put in a statement to KSAT this morning.
That official said the new system is “for the most part working as planned.” The official did not elaborate on the delays that were still affecting the Bexar County Jail.
KSAT’s Steve Spriester reached out to Judge Peter Sakai and Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar on Wednesday night for comment. So far, only Salazar has responded.
Salazar sent the following statement to KSAT:
“I’m extremely dissatisfied with how this system has performed thus far. There have been no erroneous releases of inmates, regardless of what the online system may have indicated. This is a credit to BCSO personnel literally hand-counting inmates, working on paper backups, and double-checking everything to compensate for the shortcomings of this system and process. As an example, the system indicated to us this morning that we had over 5,100 inmates in house when we knew for a fact we did not. I know other major agencies are watching to see how this system performs for us as they consider a purchase, but I’d be extremely hard-pressed to say anything positive about the system or process. I realize it has caused hardship for those incarcerated and their families, but that is a direct result of us having to be meticulous in our processes to ensure public safety.”