By Jake Schild
The Daily World
ABERDEEN, Wash. — Two prisoners from Stafford Creek Corrections Center — and another Department of Corrections prisoner whose crime occurred in Grays Harbor County — were released early as part of the computing glitch that saw an estimated 3,200 inmates in Washington state go free before their release date.
However, those numbers only show prisoners released early from Jan. 1, 2015, through early December.
Department of Corrections spokesman Jeremy Barclay said officials are starting with data from 2015 and working backward given inmates released more recently have a better chance of still having prison time to serve.
The DOC will have to work all the way back to 2002, when a state Supreme Court ruling had the DOC apply “good time” credits earned in county jail to state prison sentences, according to a press release from Gov. Jay Inslee’s office.
The statement says when the DOC changed its sentence computation coding to abide by the new rule, the fix contained an inaccurate sequencing that over-credited good time for those offenders with sentencing enhancements.
Nathan Benninger was released from Stafford Creek on Nov. 2. He was in prison for second-degree assault with a firearm. Adrian Gatlin, released on Sept. 17, was charged with residential burglary with a deadly weapon.
Brandon Roberts was not released from Stafford Creek, but his crime — third-degree assault with a deadly weapon — was committed in Grays Harbor County. He was released on Nov. 30.
All three offenders have been returned to custody, said Barclay.
The correct release date for the three men has not yet been determined. However, Inslee’s statement says early estimates indicate the median number of days prisoners were released from prison is 49 days before they were scheduled to be let out.
A 2003 Washington Supreme Court decision allows an offender to get day-for-day credit against their sentence for days out of custody after the early release. If credit for time out of prison exceeds the time owed, they do not have to return to prison.
Unless an offender has been convicted of a felony, gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor while in the community, or absconds, escapes or fails to report while under DOC supervision, they don’t need to return to prison custody if their day-to-day credit exceeds the remainder of their original sentence.
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