Mistakenly Released Convict Back In Custody

By Amy Cavanaugh in News on Feb 2, 2013 4:30PM

Phew—convicted murderer Steven Robbins, who was mistakenly released from a Cook County Jail on Wednesday, was arrested late Friday in Kankakee. Much like the recently escaped bank robbers, he was doing nothing noteworthy with his freedom, and was instead watching TV at the home of an acquaintance.

The Tribune reports that he is being held at the Cook County Sheriff's police lockup in Maywood, and this morning he'll move to the Leighton Criminal Courthouse at 26th and California "where authorities will ask the judge to have the recent arrest warrant (issued after he was mistakenly released) stricken off the record." After that Robbins goes back to Indiana, where he will resume serving a 60-year sentence for murder in Indiana.

To find Robbins, friends and family provided details of his location to authorities.

So where did it all go wrong?

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said that his office "uses an archaic system - entirely paper-driven - in handling the movement of an average of about 1,500 inmates every day. Some are entering the jail after their arrest and others are being bused to courthouses around the county for court appearances."

There was a warrant for Robbins' arrest that should have been dropped back when armed violence charges were dismissed against him in 2007. But it wasn't, and the sheriff's office went to Indiana, where he was serving time for murder, to bring him back here on the outstanding warrant. The Tribune reported that paperwork filled out by Cook County sheriff's officers this week read:

"Please be advised that this subject is in our custody under the temporary custody provision of the interstate agreement on detainers," a sheriff's order accompanying Robbins' paperwork read. The order noted Robbins' murder conviction and 60-year sentence and then stated he "must be returned to the custody of Indiana DOC."