It's not like the previous system of oversized crayolas and little yellow sticky notes was much better than the new system. Under the old system, the 20 inmates would have probably been marked released by the system, but kept in jail indefinitely.
Man Suing Dallas County Jail
May 30th, 2007 | By admin | Category: Dallas County, In The News
By Jack Fink, CBS 11
A North Texas man is suing Dallas County and the maker of its jail computer system for violating his civil rights. He claims he was lost in the system for six days.
Jim Muise credits a political leader from a foreign country for helping him get released and now he wants justice.
Muise is an automotive journalist. His stay in the Dallas County Jail kicked his emotions into overdrive.
“I felt like no one on the outside was able to hear me,” Muise said.
Muise said he was falsely arrested outside a Dallas restaurant for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
“I had people, friends of mine, associates of mine sitting outside the jail the morning after I was arrested willing to post the bond, and they couldn’t find me to say how much the bond was,” Muise said.
His name was nowhere to be found in the computer system in February, 2005, a month after it had gone online.
Muise, who is a Canadian citizen, got so desperate at one point he made a collect call to relatives in Halifax, Nova, Scotia. Luckily for him, they’re close family friends with a Canadian senator who in turned called the jail to help find Muise.
Muise was released the next day. “If not for my family and other people working so hard for me, I might still be there,” he said.
He is now suing the county and InfoIntegration, the company that installed the software.
“They knew, or should have known, that if their system didn’t work properly, people’s civil rights would be violated,” Muise’s attorney said.
The company hasn’t responded in court yet, but in a similar case, it denies the system was faulty and inaccurate.
The county hasn’t filed a response in court either, but Commissioner John Wiley Price said the county has corrected the problems.
“We know where people are in the system,” Commission Price said. “We know when they come into the system.”
Muise wants someone held accountable. “Somebody’s got to stand-up for what goes on,” he said.