Another murder suspect let loose? We’re starting to wonder about Miami-Dade Corrections | Editorial

In another embarrassing — and potentially dangerous — blunder, the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department accidentally let a man charged with murder out of jail last week, as reported by the Miami Herald. He was on the run in our community for two days before he was located.

That’s the second time in less than a month that a suspected murderer under the department’s supervision was allowed to wander the streets unfettered.

In May, it was Joshua Burgos, 29. He was supposed to be on strict house arrest. Even though he was charged with murder, carjacking and arson, Burgos managed to travel all over South Florida for a year, from Miami’s Midtown to Islamorada, without anyone notifying the judge that he had violated the conditions of his house arrest hundreds of times. The judge in that case was rightfully irate, saying she found the situation “offensive.”

And yet now we have the case of Bobby Whipple.

Whipple, 50, was supposed to be jailed while awaiting trial after his 2020 arrest for second-degree murder. Miami-Dade Corrections, though, released him from jail at the conclusion of a simultaneous 30-day sentence for contempt of court. He was re-arrested Thursday after Corrections discovered the error.

“Our review of the circumstances surrounding this inmate release is ongoing, to include a full internal investigation. Due to the on-going nature of the investigation, no further comment can be made at this time,” the department said.

That’s pretty much the same thing the department said last month in the Burgos case. A Corrections lawyer at the time promised an “administrative review” of the house-arrest program.

We know the two cases are somewhat different. One involved egregious violations of the house-arrest program, while the other was an actual mistaken release from jail. In the end, though, the result is the same: two men who were supposed to be supervised by the Corrections Department on the loose among us. Are there other cases we don’t know about? How many people were potentially put in danger because of similar lapses?

We know investigations take time, but where is the urgency by the Corrections Department on this base-line public-safety issue? These are serious and scary lapses, but we hear nothing from the department that sounds a corresponding note of alarm.

The people of South Florida deserve a fast and full explanation of what happened. And that needs to include whether any employees will be disciplined and what safeguards are being put in place to prevent more of these incidents.

This story was originally published June 7, 2021 at 2:07 PM.