The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said a computer system went down last Thursday, an issue which continued into the weekend, leading to a backup and some defendants being released from the joint processing center.
According to a report by KPRC in Houston, Andy Kahan, the Victim Services Director for Crime Stoppers of Houston, said the issue is connected to the requirement that a probable cause hearing takes place within 24 or 48 hours.
Kahan told KPRC that someone tipped him off about the situation, adding that several hundred inmates were released based on the notion that they were not given their probable cause hearings in time.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office estimated that between 180 and 200 defendants were released, but the final number is not known at this time.
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