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Software Change Causing Big Problems At Shelby County Courthouse And Jail

A $10-million upgrade to the computer system at the Shelby County Criminal Justice System is causing big problems at the courthouse and the jail, at least for n...
Software Problems For Shelby County Criminal Justice System

A $10-million upgrade to the computer system at the Shelby County Criminal Justice System is causing big problems at the courthouse and the jail, at least for now. Local I-Team senior investigator Jeni Diprizio found out it’s a big mess.

We’re told once employees get used to the new computer system and all the kinks are worked out, everything will be fine.

From the Shelby County courthouse to the county jail, the software change is affecting the entire criminal justice system. From court dockets being wrong, to inmates not being located in the jail to be brought to court for a scheduled appearance.

The Local I-Team has learned, people arrested are sitting in jail three, four, even five days just waiting for a bond to be set. One lawyer tells the Local I-Team, one of his clients has been there even longer.

“I’ve got a client arrested on November 1st. He has been there seven days. We can’t locate him. We don’t know what he has been charged with. No bond has been set,” says Claiborne Ferguson. “He is just in there. We know that because he calls us to say he is in there, but no one can tell us why he is there.”

“This is not club med. There is no check out time. They’ll get out when we can get them out,” says Shelby County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Earle Farrell. “My advice is I would not do anything to end up there, because it is taking us longer to get people in and longer to get people out.”

Farrell says while the system hasn’t come to a screeching halt, it’s moving very slowly at this point.

Twenty people from the software company are in from out of town to help out, and we are told the county IT people are working on the problem 24/7.

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