CROWN POINT, Ind. -- Officials are at a loss to explain how they allowed a homeless, mentally ill man accused of stealing a soda to languish in jail for 17 months.
Edward Perez’s attorney, his court-appointed psychiatrist, the judge in his case and Lake County jail officials all apparently believed he had been released a year ago.
The mistake wasn’t discovered until this month, after a new warden ordered a review of all inmates’ files, Sheriff Roy Dominguez told the Post-Tribune of Merrillville for a story Friday.
”This is very unfortunate,” Judge Sheila Moss said. ”This is a guy who apparently needed services, and he should have been somewhere where he could get that, rather than sitting in our county jail, which is already overcrowded.”
http://news.bostonherald.com/national/midwest/view.bg?articleid=184601