The state Corrections Department's new system of bouncing all inmate release documents to a central office for approval often has resulted late releases for parolees.
The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/TM40io) that officials say parolees have been walking out of prison about two weeks past their expected release dates ever since the system changed in early September.
Those delays have prompted as many as 100 calls a day from inmates' upset relatives.
The move to send release approvals to the department's central office in Santa Fe comes as officials try to address a string of mistaken early releases of sometimes violent offenders.
A recent statewide audit of state prisons identified about half a dozen early or late releases, including one man who was released eight years too early.