COLUMBUS, Ohio -- About 100 inmates were released from prison early by the state of Ohio.

NewsChannel5's chief investigator Duane Pohlman reported that one judge says the inmates should never have even been considered for parole.

Pohlman: They are the faces of murderers and rapists released over the past six months by the state of Ohio.

The faces include Kenneth Adkins, who was serving a life sentence for raping a 6- and 7-year-old, paroled in September.

Kenneth Adkins: "I went in front of them and they made a decision. I don't know why."

Pohlman: We found Adkins, a classified sexual predator, working at a garage near downtown Cleveland -- next door to a day-care center.

Adkins did not report this address, as required by law, to the sheriff's department.

Adkins: "I have, I haven't called him yet."

Pohlman: Adkins and the other felons got out after their names got on the "Ankrom list," named after an inmate who successfully sued the state of Ohio over unfairly holding prisoners too long.

Judge David E. Cain "We said you've got to give these people a hearing when they become eligible."

Pohlman: Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David E. Cain ruled Ohio needed to speed up parole hearings for thousands of prisoners.

Cain: "We're talking about people who entered plea bargains."

Pohlman: Only one problem, the Ankrom list the state put together contains countless names of inmates who did not plea bargain, including aggravated murderers and rapists.

Cain: "I don't understand how they could make that mistake. I didn't tell them to release anybody. I told them the people in the plaintiff's class had to be given a hearing that meant something."

Pohlman: Yet, according to the state's Ankrom list, prisoners were not only considered -- seven aggravated murderers and 27 rapists -- were released. That includes Adkins who, according to the court file, entered a guilty "plea as charged."

Bret Vincur, victim's advocate: "Who in their right mind would let these murderers and child rapists go?"

Pohlman: Vinocur, a victim's advocate, says it's clear Ohio has made some big mistakes and he says we'll all pay.

Vincur: "A couple of years down the road, the mistakes are going to come full circle and there's going to be a lot of people dead and somebody's going to need to explain that."

Pohlman: But right now, the state won't explain anything.

Originally, a representative for Ohio's Department of Rehabilitation and Correction assured me no mistakes were made and agreed to allow us to interview the prison system's chief legal counsel on camera in Columbus.

But just a day later, we were told there would be no interview.

We went to Columbus anyway.

"We don't even have a statement."

Andrea Dean, Chief of Public Affairs for Ohio Prison System: "Well, we not gonna. I'm not even going to talk to you in the hallway."

Pohlman: Dean brought us into a conference room, where it appeared she was going to give us a statement.

"How does that not constitute a mistake?"

Dean: "They were on a list that was published on the Web?"

Pohlman: But after a few minutes we were told...

Dean: "We're not going on camera. We're not saying anything else about Ankrom."

Pohlman: "Don't you think that the, the citizens of Ohio deserve an explanation?"

Dean: "We don't have anything else to say about Ankrom, and we're done. So I need you to leave."

Pohlman: With that we were shown the door.

Dean: "They need to leave."