State: Computer glitch delayed Ohio parole alerts

COLUMBUS (AP) — A computer glitch failed to deliver 66 notices earlier this year to Ohio crime victims informing them that parole hearings for offenders facing possible release had been scheduled, according to interviews and a review of state prisons agency documents.

The prisons system says a series of safeguards caught the problem after it was revealed and that victims and their family members were notified in time for the hearings. The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has since changed its procedures and now has a single person assigned to tracking the status of the letters.

Karin Ho, the agency’s victims’ services coordinator, alerted parole board members and other agency officials of the problem on May 24, according to a copy of her email obtained by The Associated Press through an open records request.

“Our main concern is to determine whether or not victims received appropriate notification, which we are doing case by case at the moment,” Ho said in the email.