SoylentNews

AnonTechie [soylentnews.org] writes:

It’s believed that over 3,200 Washington state prisoners were released from their sentences early because of a bug which miscalculated time credits for their good behaviour.

CNN reports [cnn.com] that the bug was introduced into computer systems in 2002, when an updated version of court rulings about good behaviour credits were introduced. Apparently three percent of all releases made since then were given too much credit for their good behaviour.

Of those released prematurely, the median number of days of extra freedom granted clocked in at 49. Though the BBC claims [bbc.co.uk] that one prisoner had his sentence cut by a frankly amazing 600 days. Apparently authorities first learned of the bug in 2012. But for reasons that are apparently to be investigated, a solution to the problem was delayed.

http://gizmodo.com/thousands-of-prisoners-released-early-in-washington-sta-1749416241 [gizmodo.com]

Original Submission