A former police chief serving time for rape and murder who walked away from a state prison was incorrectly classified and shouldn't have been at that prison, the head of the Arkansas prison system said Monday.

Grant Hardin belonged at a higher-security level prison but was not because of what appears to be a computer error in how he was classified, Dexter Payne, the director of corrections for Arkansas, told a legislative subcommittee.

The only way Hardin, 56, should have been at the North Central Unit in Calico Rock is if someone went into the system and allowed it for a specific reason.

"Without an override, he should not have been there," Payne said.

Payne and Joan Shipley, the chief of staff for the Arkansas Department of Public Safety, both told lawmakers with that investigations

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