Either way, Mitrice is dead, so I don't mean to belabor this point, but I just have to respond to this, Natal.
My issue isn't that they released Mitrice. She's a grown woman who said she had no mental problems. Clearly they had no right to keep her. They even--allegedly--offered to let her stay in the lobby. I find no fault in releasing a grown woman from jail.
My problem is that they SPECIFICALLY told her mother that they WOULD NOT release her until the following morning. Her mother specifically stated that she would not know where she was or how to get around.....she said that Mitrice would be lost in that city, that the city was dangerous, and that she would be worried for Mitrice's safety were she released. Mitrice's mother mentioned SPECIFICALLY that she would drive down THAT NIGHT and pick Mitrice up from the jail if they planned on releasing her that evening. The officer on the phone said that she wouldn't be released. People TRUST LE.....and I think that she believed him---rightfully so---that he wouldn't let her daughter be released until the following day, that her daughter wouldn't be placed in the exact place and situation she so feared. Was this just him talking to fill space, was he being nice (if not truthful). All he would have to do is tell Mitrice's mother that Mitrice would be released that night.....that he wasn't sure when she'd be released, etc.
Further, Mitrice was released with NO money, identification, or vehicle. I think--in that circumstance--LE have an obligation to 'protect and serve'. NOTHING about allowing a 21 year old girl to walk around in a strange city without money, id, or a vehicle is classified as 'protecting and serving' Mitrice!
I think there is more than one person working at the jail. The person the mother spoke to is likely not the person who released Mitrice. In any event, since Mitrice was an adult, her mother doesn't get to have a say in if she should be kept the night, released, when or how, or even if she should be informed. Those are Mitrice's rights and responsibilities, if she chose not to let her mother know for whatever reason, that is her right and her right alone.
A 21 year old is a grown woman, she is not a "girl" or a child. She can walk wherever and whenever she wants, she does not require her mother's permission or LEs permission as long as she isn't violating any law. In any case you are forgetting that she was offered to stay in the lobby multiple times. LE couldn't do much more than that without breaking the law themselves. Is that what you expected them to do? these jails see a constant stream of people, mostly young men and women, who are behaving poorly and/or not making the best decisions. The only thing exceptional about Mitrice's case is that she dissappeared and wound up dead, something they could not possibly have known would happen. So why should they have behaved differently for her than they do for everybody else?