Philly Inmate Back In Custody After Accidental Release
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- An inmate who was accidentally released is now back in police custody.
Police say Russell Allen Bryant was mistakenly released from the 18th District Headquarters in the 5500 block of Pine Street, just before 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Authorities say there was paperwork mix-up at the 18th District and attempted sexual assault suspect Russell Bryant left the police precinct a free man at 4:50 p.m. Tuesday.
Bryant, an inmate at Curran Fromhold, was locked up on those sex charges last month.
While in jail, detectives tied him to another a crime--a theft at Drexel University.
So on Tuesday, Bryant was transported 14 miles away for a video arraignment at the 18th District.
"After he was arraigned on those charges, he was released on those charges only, in other words that offense was not great enough to stay in custody, on that offense," said Capt. Sekou Kinebrew, with the Philadelphia Police Department.
But police say officers at the 18th District should have seen two sets of paperwork, one containing the new theft charge and another set that showed Bryant was to be returned to jail.
A source says the words "DO NOT RELEASE" are printed in bold black type.
"Some how or another, in the 18th District CCTV location, those sets of paperwork got detached from one another," Kinebrew said.
Now out of police custody for 17 hours, authorities say Bryant actually showed up at Drexel University Police to address his theft case.
Officers recognized him from alerts Philadelphia Police had issued.
He was taken back into custody.
Police are promising a review of how an oversight allowed this to happen.
"This shouldn't happen in a perfect world, so we have to figure out what to do to close this up to make sure this doesn't happen - thankful there were no catastrophic consequences to this."
