[jeremycole]

"Inslee said the state is working to locate offenders released early who need to complete their sentences. Five have been returned to prison, according to Brown."

What can this possibly accomplish? Presumably these people were released, probably had no idea they were released early, and now have potentially settled into their life again. Returning them to prison can only do more harm than letting it go, and seems more spite than justice.

[lultimouomo]

Also:

  The governor ordered the DOC to halt all releases of prisoners whose sentences could have been affected until a hand calculation is done to ensure offenders are being released on the correct date.

Since the bug affects 3% of the prisoners, this means they are willingly illegally detaining 97% of the people that are to be released next month. And just to add insult to the damage they say they do it to "ensure offenders are being released on the correct date". Later is not correct.

[pc86]

> whose sentences could have been affected

If the offense did not include firearms, deadly weapon, of sex offense enhancements, the inmate does not meet the "could have been affected" criteria. The same is true if there was no "good time" applied to the sentence at all.

If they cannot prove that an inmate's scheduled release date is incorrect, they would be released. The DOC does not have the power to hold an inmate beyond their release date.

[lultimouomo]

> If they cannot prove that an inmate's scheduled release date is incorrect, they would be released.

I would hope so, but I think that at the very least the language was chosen to suggest that they would err on the side of keeping people incarcerated. That this could be seen as politically rewarding is... scary.

[bdcravens]

Many states have statutes that provide financial compensation per diem for incarceration that exceeds the term.

[flexie]

This bug almost looks like a feature to me. The actual bug is the criminal justice politics that has resulted in an incarceration rate of 256 in such a wealthy and homogeneous society as Washington state.

The incarceration rate in Washington state, while actually being the tenth lowest in the US, is 2-4 times higher than that of European states of comparable size, wealth and diversity, such as Sweden, Belgium or Austria.

http://nicic.gov/statestats/?st=wa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarcera...

[rayiner]

The murder rate per capita in Washington state is 2.4x higher than Sweden. High crime rates in the U.S. predate the modern high incarceration rate, the drug war, or even alcohol prohibition: http://ourworldindata.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/homicid...

[flexie]

Sure, but a homicide rate of 2.5 per 100,000 only explains a fraction of the incarceration rate of 256 per 100,000 (although much more than the 1 percent since homicide is in average punished with longer sentences).

The rest is due to incarceration for other crimes.

The problem is that 1) so much is considered a crime 2) more of the crimes are prosecuted, and 3) crimes are punished with longer sentences.

[rayiner]

Homicide is a good proxy for the overall level of violent crime, because it is well-tracked and its definition is consistent between countries.

[jdc]

Maybe, maybe not. See also: "Juking the Stats".

https://medium.com/@peaceandchoi/the-downside-of-data-juking...

[erikpukinskis]

Source? I would think things like strict gun control in other countries could lead to a different ratio of murder to other violent crimes.

[lettergram]

> I would think things like strict gun control in other countries could lead to a different ratio of murder to other violent crimes.

You'd probably be wrong. Must gun related fatalities are either self-inflicted or accidental. Murder usually occurs in a fit of rage between people who know each other, i.e. found a cheating spouse, road rage, drunk and stress, etc. You don't need a gun to kill someone, and I would wager most murder occurs through some sort of beating/strangulation.

Further, the United States is 121 on the list of intentional homicides on wikipedia[1], where as Greenland (Denmark), which arguably has tougher laws is 26 on the list. However, if you compare the list to those of the poorest nations, you'll find a much stronger correlation. violent crime is far more correlated to the wealth per person in an area than gun regulation.

Gun control is more-or-less just a politically charged topic that is used to garner votes from the public based on emotional pleas.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention...

[harryh]

1 & 2 have almost nothing to do with it.

Most prisoners are in jail for violent offenses that have been crimes for most of human history.

[evook]

The U.S. are working hard to stay the most developed third world country.

[lvs]

Seems cruel and unusual to me.

[said]

"Many prisoners released early may not wind up being re-incarcerated, according to Brown. The law requires the state to give day-for-day credit in most cases to a prisoner who has been released early and hasn’t been found to break any laws since, he said."

It's unclear whether "breaking the law" includes speeding.

It's also unclear whether (former) prisoners must avoid breaking the law until their proper release date, or whether they must avoid breaking the law until the state discovers its mistake.

If it's the latter, it would be in the interest of an incorrectly released prisoner to inform the state of its mistake the morning after their proper release date. Of course, in this particular situation, the prisoners likely had no idea they were incorrectly released.

[pc86]

If you were released the average of 55 days early, my guess is that you are not re-incarcerated unless you commit another crime sufficient that you would be returned to prison. At that time the first 55 days of your sentence would be for the first crime, not the new one.

Just an assumption, IANAL.

[goldenkey]

Especially considering the average computational error was 55 days. Seems to me that this whole thing is just another bureaucrats revenge. Get those TPS reports...

[mrweasel]

>Especially considering the average computational error was 55 days.

Add to that, that the problem existed for 13 years. I would say that it's a non-issue, barely worth fixing. The persons that have been release earlier are prisoners that have shown good behavior, so I doubt that it will any more dangerous, despite the circumstances for their crime.

The law seems a little buggy to me though. Why does it even make sense that you can earn "good time", but only towards a portion of your sentence and not the whole thing? If you don't want people to get out to early just specify a minimum time that must be served.

[snarfy]

I watched his statements to the news and it made my blood boil. If it wasn't spite you couldn't tell by his tone and body language.

[coldtea]

>Returning them to prison can only do more harm than letting it go, and seems more spite than justice.

Well, from "three strikes law" and solitary confinement allowed to run for years, to the death penalty, "more spite than justice" covers the US legal/prison system perfectly.

[tyingq]

FWIW, it's not just three strikes.

In Texas, for example, charges can be enhanced, up one level (Class A/B/C misdemeanors and felonies) for a single prior conviction.

The enhanced charge then later, becomes leverage to further enhance future charges.

It has resulted in some odd sentences, including 16 years for shoplifting a candy bar. This was someone with lots of prior charges, but all of them for relatively minor shoplifting offenses. The felonies mentioned in his history were "enhanced" charges.

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/070100/sta_0701000106.shtml...

[coldtea]

>It has resulted in some odd sentences, including 16 years for shoplifting a candy bar. This was someone with lots of prior charges, but all of them for relatively minor shoplifting offenses.

In Europe there's a strong tradition of tolerance towards those kinds of things, and I think at least part of it (because they did use to happen in the 19th century and prior) is because of the figure of Jean Valjean being a prominent counter-example.

Btw, isn't it also the case in the US that those who attempt to escape are getting an expanded sentence? One very humane thing I've read, is that in some countries such as Germany attempting to escape is considered part of the basic human nature towards freedom, and is not punishable (except if you commit another crime during your escape, but the escape itself does not add years to your term).