Changes being made after accused killer mistakenly released from prison
ABC 7 I-Team
CHICAGO -- An accused murder suspect was set free by mistake last week and the ABC 7 I-Team has learned that authorities are changing a decades-old procedure to prevent it from happening again.
It has been six days since the blunder that put Garrett Glover, 29, on the lam. Cook County officials said the state should have done a better job of checking Glover's background before letting him go.
The state contends Cook County never told them Glover was facing murder charges requiring him to be sent back to jail.
As that plays out, fugitive teams look for the accused killer and authorities move to prevent it from happening again.
"On Tuesday morning the sheriff sent a letter to Director Baldwin advising him that we would no longer be shipping turn around inmates to IDOC that had open cases and Mr. Glover would have fallen into that category," Cara Smith, from the Cook County Sheriff's Department, said.
The embarrassing and dangerous mishap that prompted such a change occurred last week after Garrett Glover was sentenced in Cook County to a four year sentence for attempted armed robbery.
Glover was sent to a state prison processing center in Joliet. Because he had been in jail for two years awaiting sentencing and was already eligible for parole, state corrections officials released him.
That shouldn't have happened because Glover is also accused in a 2012 Chicago expressway murder and has yet to stand trial.
State officials said the murder charge was not reflected on county paperwork sent with Glover and because there were no warrants for his arrest he was released.
"We received two lists of offenders from Cook County one of them specifically identified offenders that needed to go back to Cook County custody because they had open cases. Mr. Glover was not on that list," Nicole Wilson, Illinois Department of Corrections, said.
"Had there been a criminal history check done on Glover before he was released to the community at the state level they would have seen this open case and he wouldn't have been released," Smith said.
"Wherever the mix up came from, wherever Cook County wants to shift blame, that's fine, I'm not going to do that, Chuck," Wilson said.
A letter from Sheriff Tom Dart to the director of state corrections informs that Cook County will no longer transport any sentenced detainee with an open case for processing back to the county jail.
In a reply obtained by the I-Team, IDOC director John Baldwin said that is a good decision and will eliminate confusion.
Sheriff Dart promised an end to the antiquated and risky business of bussing hundreds of prisoners every year from Cook County to Stateville for processing only to be turned around and delivered back to the county jail.
But the main focus is getting Glover back in a cell. There are two arrest warrants for Glover charging him with escape and violating his parole.
Glover is supposed to be back in court April 4.
Anyone with information about Glover's whereabouts should immediately contact the Cook County Sheriff's Command Center at 773-674-0169.
