PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon authorities say computer maintenance caused a technical glitch that sent out thousands of false reports that prison inmates had been released.
About 8,000 incorrect notices went out to victims and their families Friday evening from the state's inmate database, including a report on a prisoner convicted of killing two schoolgirls.
Corrections Department spokeswoman Betty Bernt says the system contractor, Appriss, has twice alerted those who received the notifications that they were false.
Appriss did not return calls for comment, but its website says the notification system is used in 47 states.
Bernt says the glitch was limited to Oregon.
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