Inmate Mistakenly Freed
Flaws in the Prison System
By Daniel Muniz

Cedric Thomas experienced exactly what every victim of a violent crime fears the most; unexpectedly meeting the lowlife who inflicted bodily harm to you, especially when that person intentionally sought you out.

Naturally, Thomas was stunned when that moment occurred.

Thomas was shot in the head and blinded in one eye by Willie Joe McAdams.

Due to the nature of this vicious crime and the maiming that was caused, McAdams was sentenced to 40 years in prison in Huntsville Texas for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. According to the length of the sentence, it would be a very long time before McAdams would ever be a free man again.

However, fate took a very different turn due to a clerical error.

The typo was a simple mistake. Instead of keying in 40 years for his sentence, somebody in the prison system inadvertently typed the number 4 so when the machinations of bureaucracy ran its course, this convict was released 36 years early. In fact, McAdams wasn’t even placed on parole when he was set free.

Obviously, this inmate didn’t bring it to anyone’s attention that there must be some kind of mistake for having such an amazing early release.

So the first thing that McAdams did with his newfound freedom was to locate Cedric Thomas.

And it didn’t take him very long before he found his victim in a bar during the Fourth of July weekend; McAdams was released in May. Although Thomas was horrified to see him, McAdams simply shook his hand and apologized for everything that happened.

Although the outcome was benign, Thomas still had a creepy feeling about the whole thing and about what could have taken place. He explains by saying:

Just about any victim of a violent crime still fears that their assailant might want to finish the job if they ever are released from prison. That is simply a frightening thought that will not go away.

Although nothing happened to Thomas, this incident vividly illustrates the possibility of the potential impact of mistakes like this. It was a simple error but it could have had grave consequences if this criminal was bent on revenge.

However, McAdams was very shortly re-arrested and sent back to Huntsville to finish out the rest of his sentence although he would be eligible for parole in another 16 years.

Obviously, somebody screwed up but it is not necessarily the fault of a single individual.

There should definitely be more stringent safeguards and redundancies in the process to prevent something like this from ever happening. That is not to say that every system should be foolproof because that is an impractical request but a careless typo like this initiated an unstoppable chain of events that had no checks and balances.

The bottom line is that a sloppy bureaucracy was involved that this early release.

Of course an investigation was launched but this incident highlights another serious problem in that the victim was totally unaware that this violent criminal was about to be set free. That has always been a sore point in our legal system because oftentimes the criminal has more rights than the victim. A few states have sought to remedy this situation but most of the country still has a long way to go.

Overall, it is just plain scary to think colossal errors like this can happen.

States have to get serious in implementing better processes and procedures to prevent such mistakes from ever occurring. Although such errors are rare, the potential is certainly there if there is sloppiness in the system.

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