(AP) -- GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - Kent County Sheriff officials are trying to figure out how deputies misplaced three inmates for more than an hour and a half. The deputies had taken a group of inmates Tuesday afternoon from the county jail to the county courthouse, to appear before a judge.

Six inmates were put into a large, compartmentalized van and driven back to the jail but only three were unloaded. The other three were unwittingly left inside one of the compartments, handcuffed and in leg irons. Then the vehicle was driven back to the courthouse and parked in a garage.

The men were discovered missing during a head count at the jail. Someone went back to the garage to check the van and found the inmates, who were returned to the jail.

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