When the news first broke about potentially 3200 receiving an early release, they claimed it was only by an average of 49 days…
At which point we wrote the following article
Inslee and the Department of Corrections Set to Destroy 3200 People’s Lives –
Oh but how the stories have changed over the past week.
Now they are saying some offenders were let go as much as 600 days early and other news agencies are digging at the fact that some who were released early went on to commit crimes within days after their early release.
The DOC is not releasing the numbers but the fact that they have sat on this for 13 years means they know something.
Initially the story seemed like a pittance, and for those of us who know people who have felonies it can be nearly impossible to put their life back together after a conviction, and the 49 days they spoke of were just long enough for those who have tried to straighten up would be just enough time to lose their jobs and their homes, creating a whole new set of homeless felons.
It was serious enough that they tried to round up 7 of those released before they made the news public, as far as we know they are still looking for 2 of them. Why? Well they aren’t saying.
Here is the press release from the Gov’s Office
Inslee announces immediate actions to fix 13-year-old sentencing errors discovered at state prisons December 22, 2015
Summary
Gov. Jay Inslee today announced the immediate actions he ordered the Washington Department of Corrections to take following the discovery of a long-standing sentencing computation issue that resulted in a narrow subset of offenders being given excessive “good time” and leaving prison early
Quotes
“These were serious errors with serious implications. When I learned of this I ordered DOC to fix this, fix it fast, and fix it right.”
Governor Inslee“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. I expect the external investigation will bring the transparency and accountability we need to make sure this issue is resolved.”
Governor InsleeStory
Gov. Jay Inslee today announced the immediate actions he ordered the Washington Department of Corrections to take following the discovery of a long-standing sentencing computation issue that resulted in a narrow subset of offenders being given excessive “good time” and leaving prison early.
“These were serious errors with serious implications,” Inslee said. “When I learned of this I ordered DOC to fix this, fix it fast, and fix it right.”
The problem dates back to July 2002 when a state Supreme Court ruling required the DOC to apply “good time” credits earned in county jail to state prison sentences. The department changed its sentence computation coding to comply with the ruling; however the programming fix contained an inaccurate sequencing that over-credited good time for those offenders with sentencing enhancements.
A preliminary analysis by DOC indicates that as many as 3,200 offenders may have been released early over the course of 13 years. That represents approximately three percent of all releases during that 13-year time period. Early estimates indicate that the median number of days offenders were released from prison is 49 days before their correct release date.
DOC first learned there was a problem in 2012 and began the process of a sequencing fix. However, for reasons that will be investigated, the sequencing fix was repeatedly delayed. A newly hired chief information officer at DOC recently became aware of the severity of the problem and alerted DOC leadership who then notified the governor.
“That this problem was allowed to continue for 13 years is deeply disappointing to me, totally unacceptable and, frankly, maddening,” Inslee said.
The governor ordered DOC to halt all releases of impacted offenders from prison until a hand calculation is done to ensure the offender is being released on the correct date. A broader software fix is expected to be in place by Jan. 7, 2016.
In addition, DOC is working swiftly 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. In accordance with Supreme Court precedent, most of the offenders who were released early will be given with day for day credit for their time in the community. Depending on how much time they have left to serve, the offenders will go to work release or back to prison.
Inslee announced he has hired Robert Westinghouse and Carl Blackstone, two retired federal prosecutors, from the firm of Yarmuth Wilsdon PLLC, to conduct an independent review to determine how the error occurred and why it took more than 13 years to resolve.
“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,” Inslee said. “I expect the external investigation will bring the transparency and accountability we need to make sure this issue is resolved.”
DOC said offenders and their families can call with questions about release dates.
Media Contact
Jaime Smith
Governor Inslee’s Communications OfficeJeremy Barclay
Washington Department of Corrections
We already know that in our county you couldn’t get a DOC Officer’s butt out of a chair if you used a front loader to scoop them up and dump them out of it. There are maybe 3 PO’s who care at all and sadly they are not in charge, just doing the best they can with the garbage they are given, the other one that cared… he retired.
Most of the guards in any of the correctional facilities are worthless on their best days, and the largest portion of DOC Officers are either one’s who couldn’t cut it as law enforcement or have already been kicked out of a police agency or two as Brady Cops.
A lot of them have money issues which make them susceptible to bribery, so the movement of drugs and contraband through the prisons is at an all time high and for a 100 bucks (or less) they will turn their back as a new arrival is brutally gang raped, some even participate. They have also been known to kill off a few of the prisoners themselves or turn their back when it was happening.
In short the only difference between the prisoners and the guards is that at the end of the day the guards are released on to the public.
I have done multiple interviews with ex-prisoners and trust me when I say, prison helps nothing.
Inslee is well aware of what is going on and an inside source has told us that his office was notified about the time calculations problems when he took office but that there was never any follow up.
His office was also notified about the transfer of Gary Ridgeway as a whistleblower notified his office and that was also ignored.
Since Mr Inslee can’t be bothered to answer his own email it is unknown if he ever received the messages but this was also around the time his aides were busy trying to make back door deals with the energy companies so maybe public safety and political fubars weren’t high on their list
When we brutalize this section of our population further all it does is create an even more violent offender
Qualified Immunity Denied in Washington Rape of Transsexual Prisoner
Rape, Death, Corruption and Sabotage of a Case
Men Against Sexism’s Fight Against Rape Culture
Rare criminal trial focuses attention on “huge problem” of prison rape
This is just 4 of thousands of stories and some might say that some of these folks deserved it. That is exactly what is wrong with society. It is entirely this kind of thinking and lack of empathy that creates these monsters we must fear.
Carl Harp suffered being raped to the point where his intestines were shredded after Mark Ericks set him up as the Bellevue sniper and as a rapist. Even though there were multiple witness that Judge Appel’s wife’s family member was the shooter, when they want to get you they do guilty or not.
Most of the people who are in corrections DO NOT belong there, they are just as sick and twisted as any convict, some more so. Those who weren’t convicted of violent crimes are going to be victimized once more and those convicted of violent crimes will just have a reason to be more angry and they will take it out on the general public.
This is supposed to a rehabilitative prison system, not merely a penal system. In other words the goal of our prison system should be to give the convicts the tools they need to become functioning adults via counseling and education but obviously that is not happening and it is us: The Citizens who are going to pay for that
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