An inquisition into the erroneous releases at the Department of Corrections by the recent legislature oversight hearing brought to light that one of the tools utilized to ensure all documents are in order for the release of detainees has been in and out of service for many years.
The Virtual Criminal Case History data base was implemented about five years ago and while DOC Major Antone Aguon told senators that it’s just a tool the department uses, he also says that when the four erroneous releases occurred, the VCCH was not utilized in the triple check process for releasing prisoners.
“We could still access it upon Mangilao in the visitation but we could not access it in Agana and that’s where our processing place is at,” he said.
Aguon told senators that he informed the Judiciary of Guam which oversees the VCCH that it was down in 2017 and it wasn’t until this year that it was brought back online.
“We are not the one that brought it back online it was the court. We let them know we had a problem and they worked with DOA Tech. It’s between the firewalls and other issues there but me, personally, I had nothing to do with it and neither did any of our staff,” he said.
Aguon added: “We have been using the VCCH in the past four or five years. But there were long periods of time when we could not access it. We probably couldn’t access it maybe more than two years.”
After going around in circles trying to determine why the VCCH was not used and when it was actually implemented, senators appeared flabbergasted.
But Aguon said: “The VCCH is not a solve all…its just another tool to help us on the job…it’s not a perfect system.”
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