An hour later, DeLuca, a well-educated woman whose life spiraled downward because of alcohol, found herself standing on a Chester street corner, dressed in sweatpants and blue fuzzy slippers, with no cash and one token left.
DeLuca is at least the fourth prisoner in recent months to be mistakenly released from the state's only privately run county prison - the George W. Hill Correctional Facility.
"It is obviously very embarrassing and completely unacceptable," County Councilman Andy Lewis said Monday. Until hearing from a reporter about the DeLuca case, he had been aware only of three others, including a murder suspect who turned himself in. Two are still at large, one convicted of firearms violations, the other charged with robbery.
"We have to make sure it does not happen again," Lewis said.
Community Education Centers Inc. of West Caldwell, N.J., which has operated the county prison since January 2009, has attributed the three previous mistaken releases, all since June, to paperwork errors.
"The company is working very closely with the county to review its policies and procedures," Christopher Greeder, a spokesman for CEC, said Monday. He said he was not aware of DeLuca's mistaken release.
County Executive Marianne Grace said Friday that the County Council would conduct an investigation and review all policies and procedures surrounding prison releases. The Thornbury Township facility has a budget of $44 million from the county and houses about 1,800 inmates.
The District Attorney's Office said Friday that its criminal investigation division also would investigate mistaken releases.
DeLuca's attorney, Robert C. Keller of Havertown, confirmed his client was mistakenly released early.
DeLuca, who was arrested three times on drunken-driving charges, said she was in jail last spring for criminal trespass after throwing a rock through her boss' window.
