CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, Ill. (WAND) - A murder suspect who authorities accidentally released from state custody is back behind bars Thursday.
According to the Champaign County Sheriff's Office, Darrion White was released from the Illinois Department of Corrections earlier in 2020 while a a first-degree murder charge was pending. A press release from the sheriff's office explained what happened that led to his release from custody.
"The Sheriff’s Office is always looking to improve processes for quality control and effectiveness, " a press release said. "Upon an internal review of our processes, it was noted that the pending murder charge was relayed to the Illinois Department of Corrections on their required paperwork. It is also common practice by the sheriff’s Office to include a detainer letter with IDOC paperwork, however an internal miscommunication resulted in the detainer letter not being included with the paperwork. A representative from IDOC with whom we spoke stated she felt the pending charge listed on the IDOC paperwork should have been sufficient enough to postpone the release of White and wasn’t entirely sure of the need for a detainer letter with this information listed on the IDOC paperwork."
Champaign County Sheriff Dustin Heuerman had questions about why the IDOC didn't keep White in custody.
“I have reached out to other Illinois sheriffs and it appears their offices only list pending charges on IDOC paperwork in cases where an inmate should be detained upon release from IDOC,” Heuerman said. “It is disappointing that IDOC didn’t question the need for a detainer letter, if indeed required, given the severity of the pending charges listed on their own IDOC paperwork.
“Regardless, we have learned a valuable lesson here and have stronger processes as a result.”
The press release said the sheriff's office changed its processes to keep this type of miscommunication from happening again.
White was taken into custody Thursday at about 1 p.m. in Glenwood. Heuerman thanked the US Marshals Service for its help in finding him.
IDOC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WAND News.
