Administrators believe that the error was responsible for upwards of 3,200 inmates being released ahead of time. In addition, a further 3,100 who were on course for early release have had their sentences corrected before they could get out. According to Nicholas Brown, Inslee's general counsel, there shouldn't be much for local Washingtonians to get concerned about. The errors mostly knocked 100 days or so off sentences, and, so far, it doesn't look as if anyone too dangerous was released too early. Still, it's not going to be a fun couple of months for whoever committed the software error in the first place -- a formal investigation headed by two former federal prosecutors kicks off in the near future.

[Image Credit: AP Photo/Elaine Thompson]