Convicted criminals are finding easy ways out of jail and onto Baltimore streets lately. On Tuesday, Marcus Anderson simply jumped out of his transport van. Yesterday, the Sun reported that Calvin Boswell was mistakenly released from the Baltimore City Detention Center — one day after being convicted of attempted murder.

Boswell was convicted on April 21 of attempted second-degree murder, second-degree assault, conspiracy to commit first-degree assault, and attempted robbery with a deadly weapon — charges for which he could receive up to 85 years in prison. After trial, he was sent to Baltimore City Detention Center to await sentencing.

On April 22 — one day after his conviction — Boswell was released from jail.

On June 23, the day he was scheduled to be sentenced, someone finally realized that Boswell was not where he was supposed to be, and rather had been mistakenly released from prison two months earlier.

Officials blame a ridiculous chain of events in which Boswell’s records were altered somewhere in the process — apparently an easy thing to do because instructions on prisoner’s detention and release are handwritten. Electronic records are reportedly not feasible at this time (2008, right?) because the computers at the Circuit Court and detention center “aren’t compatible” with each other.

A spokesman for Maryland’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said: “We’re investigating what happened… Given the nature of the case, it’s important that we take as much time as needed to figure out what’s happening.”

Meanwhile, Boswell (like Anderson) is nowhere to be found. Police are reportedly still searching for him, but given that lucky break, why would the man be anywhere near Baltimore?

In cases like these, words fail me. Anyone have anything to add to my head-shaking?

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