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Cuyahoga County corrections officer fired after inmate mistakenly released from jail

Posted at 6:48 PM, Aug 02, 2019
and last updated 2019-08-16 10:55:09-04

CLEVELAND — Another Cuyahoga County jailer is out, this one fired over the reoccurring issue of escaped inmates.

Kathleen Belle, a 16-year veteran, was fired about three weeks after Tyrieon Harris, 24, was mistakenly allowed out, according to Cuyahoga County.

Harris was incarcerated on a felony burglary charge, but he was allowed to walk out on a personal bond connected to an old traffic case. Harris was eventually re-booked into the jail.

After firing her Friday, the county said Belle missed the fact Harris' release paperwork contained a different case number than the one he was booked on. That case carried a $25,000 bond.

The incident with Harris was the third time in three months an inmate walked out of jail mistakenly. All three inmates were eventually re-captured.

In one of the cases, the county blamed a paperwork mix-up on Euclid's municipal court for letting an accused murderer out. In the other, the county said not all the cases were in the computer system when an accused bank robber was transferred from juvenile court. No one's been disciplined in those cases.

Friday's firing comes just one day after another jailer resigned after allegedly engaging in an improper relationship with an inmate.

RELATED: Jailer resigns after alleged relationship with inmate

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