A contrite Patricia Caruso, director of the Michigan Department of Corrections appeared before lawmakers yesterday to apologize for mistakes that led to the release of Patrick Selepak, later accused of killing three people, says the Detroit Free Press. Caruso said she had enacted new rules to prevent a recurrence. An internal investigation of the series of miscues by corrections staff and an analysis of shortcomings in the department’s handling of errant parolees won’t be ready for weeks, she said. State Sen. Alan Sanborn, who represents a district where two of the victims were killed, said corrections employees who allowed Selepak to be released after he was arrested while on parole were incompetent, lazy, and culpable in the three deaths.
Selepak, 27, who was arrested in November on a domestic assault charge — a parole violation — was released back onto parole Jan. 10 because department employees mistakenly believed he could not be held longer than 45 days without a parole violation hearing. He and his fiancee, a couple and another man. They were arrested Feb. 22.
Link: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006603010387