Key Player in Prisoners Early Release Resigns State Post

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — State officials say the assistant attorney general who advised Corrections officials they didn't need to recalculate prisoners' sentences after discovering a sentencing software error has stepped down.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson says Ronda Larson submitted her resignation Thursday. He says Larson will leave the office at the end of February.

The move comes during investigations into the error by Washington state's Department of Corrections that resulted in wrongly calculated sentences for about 3 percent of the prison population. That led to the early release of more than 3,000 prisoners in the state since 2002.

At least two deaths have been tied to the early releases.

Gov. Jay Inslee and DOC Secretary Dan Pacholke said they learned of the error in December. Pacholke said Saturday he would resign.