By Finn Lincoln
Syracuse.com
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Four deputies recently let the wrong woman out of the Justice Center jail, according to Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley.
The staff also gave her drugs used to treat addictions that weren’t supposed to go to her, the sheriff said.
The 25-year-old Syracuse woman, who was in jail charged with 3rd-degree burglary, was found three days later in Mattydale, the sheriff told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard on Friday.
Three deputies and a sergeant have been disciplined with losses of vacation days, the sheriff said.
The woman, Courtney Phillips, now faces felony charges of escape, forgery, falsifying a business record and criminal possession of a controlled substance, according to the sheriff’s office spokesperson Thomas Newton. The drug charge was for the wrong prescription drugs given to her in jail, he said.
Shelley said he really can’t understand how the mistake happened.
“Our policy requires four times that you identify the inmate to ensure you have the right one,” the sheriff said. “I really can’t wrap my head around how it could have happened.”
It all started at about 3 p.m. Aug. 8 when a deputy went to a cell to get an inmate who was scheduled to be released. The deputy went to the next cell over, the sheriff said.
Phillips didn’t tell deputies she wasn’t scheduled to be released, Shelley said. She went along with the process.
Deputies didn’t check her wristband that included her name and has a photo, Shelley said.
Next, deputies took Phillips to the infirmary, where she received multi-day supply of Suboxone, Shelley said. Suboxone is an opioid substitute used to treat addiction.
The drug was supposed to go to the woman who was scheduled to be released, Shelley said. Phillips didn’t have a prescription for the drug.
Deputies gave Phillips clothes and other personal items. She told them the clothes were not hers and they didn’t fit her, but no alarms went off, Shelley said.
The two women also had different hair color, Shelley said. The woman who was supposed to be released has blue hair while Phillips has blonde hair, the sheriff said.
Shelley said each person was at fault in some way. One deputy returned the wrong property, one was running the desk, one was the last stop, one walked with the prisoner and one was the supervisor.
The sheriff said no one confirmed her identity.
Shelley said it was about six hours before deputies realized they had released the wrong person. An investigation was immediately launched, he said.
Phillips was found on Aug. 11 sleeping on someone’s couch in Mattydale, Shelley said. She had been bouncing around from place to place. It was unclear if she had consumed the suboxone given to her, Shelley said.
Shelley said his office didn’t alert the public that they let out the wrong person because he didn’t want to drive her into hiding and she wasn’t a violent or dangerous offender.
The officers disciplined were deputies Melvin DeJesus , Luke Fiumara and Gerald Wagner and Sgt. Eric Rhoda.
Rhoda, a supervisor, will lose five vacation days plus his position in the booking department, according to the sheriff’s office disciplinary letter obtained by Syracuse.com. Rhoda has previously had “multiple documented performance issues within booking,” the letter said.
The other three deputies each lost four vacation days.
The disciplinary charges against the officers include failure to follow the duty manual, neglect of duties, failure to follow procedures and others.
The discipline against the officers was finalized on Tuesday.
“Some people might not agree with the punishments,” Shelley said. “But these guys have been ruminating on it, beating themselves up about it.”
Shelley said the union for the officers argued for more lenient discipline, but he disagreed.
Shelley said he didn’t want to discipline the individuals as much as he could have. He wanted to fix the structure that allowed these mistakes to happen. New procedures including an extra ID check and fingerprinting each inmate before they are allowed to leave have been added, he explained.
“We’re taking the extra steps,” Shelley said. “The public still needs to put their trust in the sheriff. We’re doing everything we can to make sure this never happens again.”
Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard reached out to the officer’s union and the state Division of Criminal Justice Services for comment.
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