Mistakenly released inmate involved in stand-off

TYLER — An inmate in the Smith County Jail was accidentally freed instead of being taken to prison for a seven-year sentence. According to our news partner KETK, the Smith County Sheriff’s Office said inmate Mark Tyrone Johnson was released by mistake on Jan. 5, 2022. He was supposed to have been returned to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division to complete his previous seven-year sentence for assault family/household member with a previous conviction.  After his release, a warrant was subsequently issued for Johnson for escape from custody in June 2022.

“Mark Tyrone Johnson should know that he has not completed his seven year sentence,” according to the warrant. “Furthermore, while Johnson was released from the Smith County Jail, he was still in the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and he was not authorized by TDCJ to depart from their custody.”

Johnson was apprehended 608 days after the initial warrant was issued, in the barricaded man situation that occurred on Sept. 5 in west Tyler. According to the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, the release of Johnson was a mistake. Johnson is in the Smith County Jail on a $300,000 bond for the escape from custody charge.