Accidents

Early Release from Washington State Prison

A software update led to miscalculation of the time an inmate was due to serve in prison. Although the results of the calculation could easily be checked, the problem persisted for 13 years and over 2,000 offenders were released early.

For over 13 years the Washington State Department Of Corrections (DOC) had been releasing certain  prison inmates earlier than their sentences allowed.

In 2002 the Supreme Court ruled that the DOC was erroneously denying offenders credit for early release  time earned during pre-sentence detention. In attempting to address that issue the DOC incorrectly  reprogrammed its computer tracking system. This resulted in the early release of offenders with sentencing  enhancements. The programming error went undetected for over ten years, with more than 2,000  offenders being released early.

The error was detected when the family of an assault victim hand-calculated the assailant’s release date.  The family notified the DOC that it appeared as if the assailant would be released earlier than warranted  by statute. It took a further three years before the programming error was finally corrected.

This incident illustrates the importance of the integrity Data Property, with respect to calculated release  dates. The verifiability Data Property is also relevant, noting that the calculation of the release date was  readily verifiable (as shown by the actions of the family of the assault victim).

Links 

• http://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2016-02-25_DOC_Report.pdf
  (accessed  29 November 2017).