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(Image source: KDVR)
BY ELISA LOPEZ AGUADO
Some inmates in Colorado prisons may be getting out sooner than they expected and other recently-freed
inmates may be going back to prison after an audit uncovered massive problems with the
state's sentencing system.
The Denver Post reports judges are currently reviewing thousands of cases to see whether
inmates were incorrectly sentenced. So far, the judges have found more than 300 errors.
The Post adds once the audit is done the total number of mistakes could near 1,000.
The cause of the mistakes is still unclear, but KDVR suggests: "possibilities include
judicial clerks giving incorrect information to prisons officials or correction officials
interpreting rulings incorrectly."
The audit began when Evan Ebel, a recently-released inmate, allegedly killed a Department of Corrections
chief and a pizza delivery man this March, before being killed in a shootout with police
in Texas. (Via KMGH)
Court documents later showed Ebel had been released from prison four years early. Colorado's
interim prison director told KUSA it seems to all come down to human error.
"As long as we are dealing with this level of complexity and dealing with human beings,
it's never going to be a system where we can promise absolute certainty that those errors
won't recur."
The judges are reviewing sentences in order of priority. KKTV reports prisoners scheduled
for release in the next 30 days are at the top of the list, along with violent offenders.
Governor John Hickenlooper said the audit will not be completed until late summer.