A Victorian prisoner mistakenly released from jail was free for six months before he was arrested and returned to custody.
Police arrested Lindsay Whitfield, 37, on Friday afternoon following his release from prison 18 months early in December 2013.
The bungle was revealed in the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday where a judge rejected an application by the Office of Public Prosecutions to suppress publication of the Whitfield mix-up.
Whitfield, of Tyabb, was jailed for 18 months in November last year but was released on December 9 upon completing a previous jail term he was serving.
The error was blamed on an "oversight" in which Whitfield's 18-month jail term was never recorded at Corrections Victoria, court documents show.
The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the incident.
Whitfield's arrest comes just a week after another prisoner was captured following his premature release from custody.
Police arrested Andrew Brian Males, 35, of Altona North, in the state's northwest on May 24, after he was released from custody a month earlier due to an administrative error.
The bungle only became apparent when Males did not appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court, despite him supposedly being held on remand.
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