State prisons IT chief steps down

Washington’s prison system will need to look for someone new to lead an information-technology staff that has undergone months of scrutiny over the wrongful early release of prisoners.

Ira Feuer stepped down this week after less than a year as chief information officer for the Department of Corrections.

An agency spokesman said Feuer left to rejoin family in Los Angeles that had not relocated when Feuer started work last August. Gov. Jay Inslee’s office said his departure, unlike several other resignations, wasn’t part of disciplinary actions resulting from an investigation into the early releases.

In fact, Inslee’s spokeswoman praised Feuer for doing what she said one of his predecessors should have done in 2012. Feuer told investigators he learned of the programming error causing the releases last November and took steps to make sure it was being fixed.

Between 2002 and 2015, as many as 3,300 inmates were released early. Some in the department knew of the error starting in December 2012 but the IT staff delayed a technical fix and no one sought to calculate all releases by hand. At least two ex-inmates are charged with homicides when they should have been in prison.

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 5:41 PM with the headline "State prisons IT chief steps down."