By C1 Staff
LOS LUNAS, N.M. -- Some inmates in New Mexico are being prematurely released while others are held long after their full sentences have been served. an investigation has revealed.
Officials attribute the problem to short staffing and an antiquated paper record-keeping system for tracking formula changes to inmate sentences, according to the Mercury News.
New Mexico Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel says he intends to ask lawmakers for money next year to computerize the inmate database. He will also ask to simplify how areas such as time off for good behavior is calculated, to avoid human error.
He’s also launched an aggressive campaign to hire returning veterans to fill more than 600 positions at prisons around the state.
In the meantime, Marcantel is helping to look through some of the “high stacks” of aging documents with complicated formulas and dates of the state’s 6,600 or so inmates.
Until the audit is complete, it’s unclear how many inmates have been released early or kept too long. So far, prison officials have identified at least eight inmates incorrectly released.