FORKS — Another prison inmate on the North Olympic Peninsula was released early from his sentence because of a records error.
Olympic Corrections Center inmate Troy C. Vansickle, 33, remains at large after he was freed June 18, four months before his scheduled release date, due to a typographical error, the state Department of Corrections reported Wednesday.
Vansickle had been in the Snohomish County jail for resentencing on his first-degree theft conviction when he was released.
The paperwork error was not discovered until July 1, nearly two weeks later.
The error originated at Olympic Corrections Center, and Snohomish County staff were not at fault, said Cathy O’Bryan, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections’ Northwest region.
“Human error happens,” O’Bryan said Wednesday.
Second mistake in month
Vansickle’s release is the second instance in the last month that a prisoner on the Peninsula has been mistakenly freed before he has completed his sentence.
A Clallam Bay Corrections Center inmate, Devon Daniels, was released June 29 and apprehended later that day aboard a Washington State Ferry in Kingston after prison staff realized he still had another year to go on his sentence.
After the mistake, a Clallam Bay spokeswoman said the facility would conduct an audit to avoid similar errors.
Though the two errors occurred within weeks of each other, O’Bryan said it does not happen often.
“The records staff are usually very careful to check their work,” she said.
