Lawsuit Filed Against Shelby Co. Sheriff Over Issues At Jail

Action federal lawsuit ... has been filed against shelby county sheriff ... bill oldham.

It has to do with the trouble ... the local i-team first reported at the shelby county jail.

Brandon: inmates were literally getting lost in the system due to a computer software upgrade.

Senior investigator jeni diprizio broke this story and was the first to get a copy of the lawsuit.

Jeni diprizio reporting jeni diprizio: according to the lawsuit... sheriff bill oldham was sued because he... is the elected sheriff.

The one who has the final decision making and policy making authority at the jail.

The lawsuit claims unreasonable practices, procedures and policies of inmates happened during a computer software upgrade at the shelby county jail.

The complainant says the jail office held inmates longer than legally authorized.

Issacca powell is the complainant.

Powell was lost in the system and spent 11 days in jail without being given a bond, taken to a courtroom or told his charges.

Only after his family hired an attorney...was that attorney able to get powell in front of a judge to find out what was going on.

Even after posting bond it took two additional days for powell to get released.

The lawsuit claims powell's detention was illegal, excessive and unconstitutional one shelby county commissioner, isn't surprised by the lawsuit.

Terry roland/shelby county commissioner:" first thing that comes to mind is the old cliche of i told you so.

You know i have been hollering about this since we went in there the other day to get folks out of there before something like this happened and unfortunately we have to deal with this now powell isn't the only inmate..this happened to.

Judges report inmates showing up in the wrong courtrooms, remaining in jail for days on end without bond or court dates.

Judge bill anderson called what's happened a debacle.

Jeni: the software problem didn't just cause problems at the jail.

Virtually every department at the criminal justice center is experiencing problems. the i-t department can't give anyone an answer when it will all be fixed.

We reached out to the sheriffs office spokesperson about the lawsuit and have not heard back.

For the local i- team.

I'm jeni diprizio.