Quote:

http://www.topix.net/city/san-rafael-ca/2007/06/san-quentin-inmate-accidentally-released-stabs-teenager-man

San Quentin inmate accidentally released stabs teenager, man

By: Associated Press -

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Quentin State Prison is reviewing its policies in an effort to understand how a prisoner who stabbed two people was accidentally released a day before.

On May 18, inmate Scott Chris Thomas, 26, was supposed to be picked up by his parole officer in Southern California. Instead, because of a mix-up with Alameda County law enforcement, he was dropped off at a transit center in downtown San Rafael, said Lt. Eric Messick, the prison's spokesman.

Thomas was designated a "security housing unit inmate," a designation given to prisoners who have committed serious violations while in custody. Among Thomas' infractions was the beating of a correctional officer in March 2006, Messick said.

Special care should have been taken to return him to the prison, and then make arrangements to send him to Van Nuys, where he would be picked up by a parole officer, Messick said.

Instead, from San Rafael Thomas took a bus to San Francisco, and stabbed a 14-year-old girl and a man who tried to help her. Police who arrested him near the bakery said he was mumbling and singing incoherently.

"We want to make sure there is nothing wrong with our process," Messick said. "We're going to look at this thing real close and real quickly."

Thomas has been charged with attempted murder, child endangerment and assault with a deadly weapon, and is being held at San Francisco General Hospital for psychiatric observation.

The girl and the man who helped her are recovering from their injuries.

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