As of Monday afternoon, nearly all of the 25 inmates prematurely released from Napa County jail last week had been contacted, and most were behind bars again.

Authorities have not yet been able to contact three of the offenders.

Of the other 22, 16 had already returned by the end of the weekend. Three were to turn themselves in Monday, according to Napa County Department of Corrections Director Julie Hutchens, while two more were expected to come in today.

Jail authorities don't plan to reach the remaining inmate, presumably because he only had a few days left on his sentence when the inmates were let go.

The 25 were released Wednesday, after jailers used an incorrect formula to figure out the inmates' good behavior and work credits. The calculations from the wrong formula -- which turned out to be the formula used by the probation department -- showed some of the inmates had been held beyond their release date, Hutchens said. As a result, inmates with as little time left as five days and as much time as 44 days to serve were cut loose.

Only three offenders were in on violence-related charges -- one for aggravated assault and two on domestic violence. Another of the inmates released early is a registered sex offender who was serving time for failing to register his address with local authorities.

All four of them are once more behind bars, Hutchens said.

The majority of the remaining inmates were convicted of violations of probation or DUI, Hutchens said.

Of the three inmates jail staff have not been able to contact, one was serving time for violation of probation for being drunk in public: one, who is on parole, was convicted of auto theft; and the other was convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon, Hutchens said.

Hutchens said all inmates are given credits for good behavior and work when they are first put behind bars.

"We assume they will obey the rules and work while serving their time. If they don't and become a discipline problem, we can take those credits away," she said. "I was reading California case law and felt the calculations they were using were different from what the jail was using. I became alarmed we were keeping people past their release date. I asked our jail tech staff to change the formula. I approved the release of those I believed were here beyond their actual release date."

Once the error was discovered by the probation department, jail and probation staffers began calling the released inmates. Their attorneys were also contacted.

"Many of the people who turned themselves in called us after they read the article about it in Saturday's (Register)," Hutchens said.

Napa police picked up one, sheriff's deputies got two and one was nabbed by Solano County law enforcement, she said. "The rest voluntarily called us and returned to finish their sentences."

Hutchens said a hearing before Napa County Superior Court Judge Stephen Kroyer is set for Wednesday.

The court will decide whether to issue arrest warrants for any of the inmates who are still at large, she said.

Hutchens takes full responsibility for the mistake.

"I should have conversed with any other county agencies that might have been even remotely involved before making such a decision," she said.

Hutchens has been NCDC director since Sept. 4; she oversees an average daily jail population of about 230 inmates. Capacity is set at 264. Before coming to Napa, she was jail administrator for Siskiyou County in Northern California. That county has a population of 48,000, with an average jail population of about 100, she said.