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3200 inmates mistakenly released early in Washington state

More than 3,000 prisoners in Washington have been mistakenly released early since 2002 because of an error by the state’s Department of Corrections. A service request to fix the problem was filed, but the coding error still went uncorrected.

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FILE – In this February 17, 2011 file photo, inmates walk past correctional officers at the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, Wash.


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By the time Inslee held a press conference on Tuesday about the early release problem, his office had estimated the Department of Corrections had released 3,200 inmates early since 2002.


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The latest developments on the mistaken early release of prisoners in Washington state because of an error by the Department of Corrections (all times local).

Inslee said, “That this problem was allowed to continue to exist for 13 years is deeply disappointing…It is totally unacceptable, and frankly, it is maddening”.

The glitch stems from a 2002 state Supreme Court ruling requiring prisons to apply good-behavior credits to sentences, ABC reported.

The department’s programming fix to bring its sentencing into compliance with the ruling had an “inaccurate sequencing” that over-credited some offenders, Inslee said. However, a problem caused by the incentives is that they can conflict with sentences that feature “enhancements” or extra time tacked on for certain crimes.

For those prisoners released early, it’s not all good news.

“The department is now unraveling the circumstances that created this error”, Inslee said Tuesday. Estimates indicate that the median number of days offenders were released from prison is 49 days before their correct release date.

An analysis showed that as many as 3,200 offenders were released early. But officials have identified at least seven prisoners who were freed but havent reached their corrected release date yet, and they will need to return to prison. Five have already been returned to incarceration.

The state was made aware of the error in 2012 when the family of a crime victim learned the offender responsible was being released too early. Based on the current average of incorrect calculations, most inmates released before this summer who have not been arrested for a new offense will have enough credit to remain out of prison.

Neither the governor’s office or the Department of Corrections could immediately say whether any of the inmates released early committed new crimes during the period when they should have been incarcerated.

“That number may go up”, Brown said.

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Department of Corrections Secretary Dan Pacholke, who oversaw the agency when some of the offenders were released incorrectly, called the situation and “unforgiveable error”.

Kevork Djansezian  Getty