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Prison Inmates Released Early Because of Software Glitch
However, the programming fix ended up giving prisoners with sentencing enhancements too much so-called good time credit.
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At least three of the more than 3,000 Washington state prisoners released early because of a computer error committed crimes during the time they should have been behind bars, state officials said Thursday.
Officials have said most of the errors were 100 days or less. In some cases, inmates were released just a few days early, but at least one person who is still incarcerated had a release date that was off by about 600 days.
“That this problem was allowed to continue for 13 years is deeply disappointing to me, totally unacceptable and, frankly, maddening”, Washington governor Jay Inslee said at a press conference.
In addition, the Department of Corrections is working to locate offenders who were released from prison prior to their actual earned release date and ensure they fulfill their sentences as required by law.
Corrections officials were unaware of the problem, they say, until a victim’s family alerted the department 2012.
During a conference call with reporters, officials from the Department of Corrections could not say whether those prisoners have yet been re-arrested. Prison sentences often consist of two parts: the regular one and an “enhancement” added for crimes committed under certain circumstances.
The state failed to react fast enough and waited until a new IT boss for the Washington Department of Corrections (DoC) was appointed, who then ran an investigation into the seriousness of the glitch.
“For reasons we still don’t yet fully understand, that fix never happened”, Brown said.
When asked if any of the prisoners who were released early committed additional crimes, Brown said, “We don’t have the answer to that”.
The governor has ordered to DOC to put a hold on any scheduled releases until new calculations are done by hand, and said a software fix is expected to be implemented by January 7.
An independent investigation is already in process by former federal prosecutors Robert Westinghouse and Carl Blackstone, with Islee promising “the proper level of accountability depending on the results of [the] investigation”.
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In an interview on “Q13 Fox News This Morning”, DOC Secretary Dan Pacholke apologized for the error, and said those released early likely include violent criminals. “I have a lot of questions about how and why this happened, and I understand that members of the public will have those same questions”.