back to article Software bug sets free thousands of US prisoners too early

Washington State Department of Corrections is facing an investigation after it released more than 3,200 prisoners too early due to a software bug. "These were serious errors with serious implications," Governor Jay Inslee said in a statement. "When I learned of this I ordered [the Department of Corrections] to fix this, fix it …

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      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: How to miss the whole point of reforming prisoners

        Except the prisons (and their shareholders) are paid for the number of prisoners.

        So the ones who are being good will be easy and cheap to find and re-imprison.

        Those who have re-offended and are in another prison can't be charged for and those who have moved away or are on the run will be too expensive to catch

      2. Tom 13

        Re: One would hope that a blind eye

        Not a chance. The Dept of Corrections dumbocrats have been caught being incompetent. The public wants their heads on a pike. No chance they'll be giving thought to anything other than placating the public.

  1. Steve C#

    Same old story in Washington State

    I live in Washington State. The state and local governments have been run for many years by incompetent, very politically correct, bureaucrats that are constantly being sued for their screw-ups. Rarely is anyone fired/sacked and they are often promoted. This is especially true for WA State Child Protective Services, their total in lawsuits paid out was over $150M a year ago. This does not include active or unresolved lawsuits.

    Another example, the WA State Legislature and Democrat Governor are currently trying to find a way to impeach the WA State Auditor, a Democrat. He was indicted for federal income tax evasion, lying to investigators, concealing millions of dollars, and making repeated false statements.

    This issue was probably bad programming of the software and not the software itself. Yes, blame the software, not the incompetent personnel. The real crime here is that the Department of Corrections has know about this for years and has kept it hushed up. Why release the news just before Christmas? Well, it is between elections and a good time to bury the news...

    Tacking on new prison time should be done only if the convict released early is once again in prison, either due to a new conviction or a probation violation. The goal should be reform of the individual and not punishment for punishment sake. But then, bureaucrats don't think that way.

    1. Tom 13

      Re: The goal should be reform

      I don't concur on that. While that should be part of the goal, there is also a goal in proper punishment itself.

      That being said, it was the Dept or Ineptitude that screwed up. The state discharged them as sentence served. That shouldn't be revocable. We law and order not reform types can be real hard asses about that. You can't build your life if the rules keep changing randomly.

  2. heenow

    Par for the course...

    No surprise here. Instead of IT just crapping on their employer's workers, they took their inherent incompetence to the state level.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Back to US Prison makes sense...

    ... when you remember these are private for profit organisations

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Old news

    No, not "old news" as in already reported. "Old news" as in this has been known about for a long time.

    I have a family member who was incarcerated in Washington State, and was released about 24 months ago. As an inmate in the penal system, he knew all about this 'early release bug'. Depending on which system was used, the inmate's 'Expected Release Date' would vary.

    Most of the Department of Corrections knew about it too. They would use it to screw with prisoners - "You are going to be released on this date." Then a month later, once the prisoner's family was notified, plans made, schedules arranged, etc, they would revise the release date to be the correct one.

    The WA DOC never hesitated to make victims of the family as well, creating bureaucratic problems to punish us for the offender's crime.

  5. Gannon (J.) Dick
    Happy

    The Taxman's Secret Santa

    Wow.

    Amazon and E-Bay just invented a "Just In Time" service delivery scheme that works for the Public Sector!

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/23/amazon_and_ebay_accused_of_collaborating_with_overseas_sellers_to_defraud_taxman_of_millions_of_pounds/

    Dear State of Washington, was that gift postmarked "Redmond" by any chance ? I think I know who your Secret Santa is.

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