AUSTIN—With an alarming report that appears to be based on faulty databases and a general confusion over what should be basic information, several state lawmakers said Wednesday they are still frustrated by the Texas youth prison system and questioned whether it will ever regain the public trust.

“I don’t have confidence in anything the agency is doing,” said Sen. John Whitmire, the Houston Democrat who co-chairs the joint Senate and House committee charged with oversight of the Texas Youth Commission.

Panel members were concerned by a report issued last week by TYC’s ombudsman Will Harrell that said scores of allegations of mistreatment of youth may have been closed without proper investigation over the past 14 months.

On Wednesday, TYC officials said the report was based on an old and incomplete database. An internal follow-up investigation did not find the same problem, although officials said they are still reviewing the cases.

Whitmire, who said last week he was shocked by the initial report and lashed out at TYC officials, turned his criticism toward Harrell on Wednesday.

“I think we’re finding out it’s a high-tech typo. This is way too serious to be dealing with it so casually,” Whitmire said of Harrell’s report.

Lawmakers have been closely watching the TYC since allegations of sexual abuse of inmates and a cover-up by agency officials erupted in early 2007.

Harrell, a former head of the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, was hired that year as the TYC ombudsman, who serves as an agency watchdog office and youth advocate.

Harrell’s report indicated scores of abuse cases were either not investigated properly by the agency or turned over to law enforcement, while others were left in limbo.

Agency officials blamed the finding on a faulty database that simply isn’t up to date and not set up to have all the relevant information. A followup of cases showed that most of the information showing how a case was disposed was available in paper files, but not in the computer system.