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Editor's note on series A bill that slipped through the 2003 Oregon Legislature virtually unnoticed is giving hundreds of child molesters, drug traffickers and violent offenders an early out from prison. Some are serving less than 25 percent of their allotted time behind bars, and it is possible to have about 85 percent of a sentence forgiven.

Reporter Katie Willson explores the reasons, the impact and the possible solutions in this News-Register exclusive report.

Inmates being let out back door early District Attorney Bernice Barnett breathed a sigh of relief in 2003 when she sent career Lincoln County criminal Todd Wesley Ramsey to prison for two years after his most recent string of drug-fueled felonies. It turns out her confidence was unwarranted.

State refuses to release inmate records Yamhill County's district attorney, Brad Berry, would like an accounting from the Department of Corrections indicating which felons it is admitting to its new alternative incarceration program (AIP), which are completing it successfully and which are staying out of trouble - or not - afterward. That, he said, would help him better evaluate the AIP's strengths and weaknesses.

AIP may be in for legislative overhaul The Oregon District Attorneys Association is demanding changes in the state Department of Corrections' new alternative incarceration program (AIP), a product of the 2003 Legislature that has come to be known by the acronym AIP. And Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry is leading the charge.

AIP defenders see treatment as vital So do program's critics, but not at price of early outs from prision It hasn't hit the public full force yet, but a storm is brewing in the criminal justice community over Oregon's new alternative incarceration program or AIP.

'Truth in sentencing' at heart of issue AIP critics say letting inmates out early violates long-standing pledege to public. You'll hear the phrase "truth in sentencing" a lot as controversy builds over Oregon's little-known AIP, a Department of Corrections drug and alcohol treatment program that can cut up to 30 months or 80 percent off of felony prison sentences.

AIP participation by county Average number of months cut and number of participants

DAs don't feel justice being served Cases cited in which sentence allegedly subverted justice Norma Mae Gallagher turned 71 behind bars. Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis sent her packing off to prison in 2003, after a 30-year career in organized crime finally caught up with her.