"Jailhouse rocked:" 25 suspects freed due to computer glitch

DALLAS - Twenty five criminal suspects were mistakenly freed from a Dallas jail due to a computer glitch, police say, according to CBS DFW.

Authorities say the suspects were released because paperwork supporting their arrests didn't make it to prosecutors in time.

"Because of that backlog, some of those cases did not reach Dallas county within the required 72 hours," said Dallas Police Department Deputy Chief Christina Smith. "We are working with the District Attorney's office to get those cases refiled."

The error comes as the Dallas Police are introducing a new record management system that replaces the old system, which had been in place for the past 30 years, reports the station.

Deputy Chief Smith explained some of the input mistakes may have occurred because of inexperience with the new system.

"Basically it's just a familiarity with how the new system works, what to put in certain boxes in the data input, and sometimes certain boxes weren't completed, and so things are going back for correction."

Smith says most of the released suspects were arrested for property crimes and very few were violent offenders. None were homicide suspects and one had been arrested for robbery. A few had been accused of family violence, which could cause additional problems for their alleged victims, reports the station.

"I think it would be a frightening thing to think they were arrested and kept overnight or a few nights in jail, and then to have them to possibly show back up," said Paige Flink, CEO of The Family Place. "If you're a victim of family violence often you think no one is going to take you seriously."

CBS DFW has learned that at least one suspect is back in custody. Police are working with the Dallas County Sheriff's Department to try to locate the rest.