(If this is a repost, please tell me. I searched the board, didn't find it)

Halifax jail lets robber free one year early

WebPosted Mar 2 2000 9:45 AM EST HALIFAX, N.S. - An administrative glitch at the Halifax Correctional Centre has given a robber his freedom. The jail mistakenly allowed the inmate to get out of jail a year earlier than expected.

Sean Avery Upshaw was recently sentenced to 20 months in jail for robbery and uttering threats. A Daily News report says Upshaw wasn't supposed to be eligible for early-release until February of 2001. But exactly one year before Upshaw's release-date, his record was somehow wiped out and the 18-year-old walked out of the Lower Sackville facility one year early.

A justice department official calls the incident a serious mistake, and says an internal investigation will be launched.

RCMP are looking for Upshaw, but neither police nor RCMP have obtained arrest warrants because technically Upshaw isn't unlawfully at large.

Source: CBC News, Toronto, Canada

http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2000/03/02/nsconfreed000332

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), March 04, 2000

Answers

In this report, it's still insinuated that this was a human error glitch. If we could find a report of other Halifax prisoners' records being erased, we could chalk them up to Y2k.

March 9, 2000

HL: Halifax police recapture prisoner let out of jail a year early

HALIFAX (CP) -- Police have finally tracked down and arrested a man who was mistakenly let out of a Halifax jail a year early.

Sean Avery Upshaw was allowed out of jail last month because of an administrative glitch.

He was supposed to remain in custody until February of next year, but someone mistakenly wiped one year off his release date.

Halifax police said this morning that after a lot of surveillance work, they found Upshaw in a home in the city's north end overnight.

They said officers obtained a search warrant and found Upshaw hiding under a bed.

Police arrested a second man in the home on an outstanding warrant.

Source: CNews, Canada

http://www.canoe.ca/AtlanticTicker/CANOE- wire.Escapee-Recaptured.html

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), March 12, 2000.