Inmates in the Dallas County jail are waiting longer after the jail transferred to a new case management system two months ago, according to county officials.
Some inmates are reportedly waiting weeks for an attorney, as reported by The Dallas Morning News. The transfer has also resulted in inaccuracies within “critical” reports from the county, according to staff.
“Since the transitions, we’ve seen an uptick in the jail population,” said county jail population manager LaShonda Jefferson, per DMN.
The process of switching to a new case management system has been in development for several years, with the effort being led by County Clerk John Warren and District Clerk Felicia Pitre.
County Commissioner John Wiley Price said there have been “challenges” with the software system, but staff are working to fix it.
“All of us are flying kind of in the blind,” he said, according to the DMN.
The jail recently hit 87% capacity, having averaged about 80% before the system transition in April. The jail has a total of 7,408 beds.
Still, Pitre said last month she found it “difficult to believe” inmates were being held for longer than they should be.
Another factor potentially contributing to the rising number of inmates is that some criminal justice officials, including judges, apparently no longer have access to jail data. The sheriff’s department claimed federal criminal information standards required this, the DMN reported.
Furthermore, Ellyce Lindberg, chief of the Grand Jury and Intake Division of the District Attorney’s Office, has also brought attention to “critical” reports that are not accurate after the transfer.
“We can’t do our job without knowing who’s in jail, what’s going on, or what’s the case status,” she said, per DMN.
Jail data suggest charges have yet to be filed against about 2,000, or one-third, of current inmates. Less than half of that number were waiting for charges at a given time before the system transition.
“Everybody I talk to is frustrated,” said criminal attorney Mike Howard, per DMN.
However, based on Lindberg’s claim, this data may not be accurate.
The county’s apparent struggles with inaccurate data come as the City of Dallas faces similar issues with crime statistics following an alleged ransomware attack almost two months ago.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the City has discouraged use of its public-facing crime statistics platforms, claiming they remain “unreliable” due to the reported attack.