Officials: Early prisoner release fix was delayed 16 times
Dec 29, 2015, 3:23 PM | Updated: 3:26 pm
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Corrections officials say that a software fix that would have prevented the erroneous release of thousands of prisoners early was delayed 16 times since it was first discovered in 2012.
Corrections Secretary Dan Pacholke said Tuesday that it’s still uncertain why that fix never occurred, but that an ongoing independent investigation will work to determine that.
Related:Is the Washington DOC to blame for a deadly crash?
Officials have said that as many as 3,200 offenders have being wrongly released early since 2002. So far, they’ve apprehended 24 people who need to serve additional time, but an additional 44 former prisoners are being reviewed and potentially need to be brought into custody.
Twenty-five arrest warrants have been issued, Pacholke said. On Monday, the agency revealed that one of the prisoners released early because of the coding error was charged with killing his girlfriend in a car crash when he should have been behind bars.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
