SALEM (AP) - An early release plan for prison inmates given credit for good behavior is saving the state money but it has angered crime victims.

"It's just not right," said Janet Lovelace, whose 12-year-old daughter was killed in a hit-and-run accident in June 2000.

The man convicted of the girl's death and trying to conceal it, Lee Russel Stubbs, was sentenced to 40 months in prison but was freed early this year after he earned a 20 percent reduction in the sentence for good behavior.

"Mr. Stubbs now is out living his life, and I still battle with tears every day for the loss of my daughter," Lovelace said.

But Ben de Haan, interim director of the state Corrections Department, says early release cuts costs to ease pressure on the state budget.

"We just say it looks like a pretty good practice, and oh, by the way, it saves you a bunch of money," de Haan said.

Sen. Kurt Schrader, D-Canby, said locking up an inmate costs $62 per day, or roughly $23,000 per year.

In their recently released budget proposal for 2003-05, legislative leaders suggest boosting the maximum sentence reduction earned for good behavior from 20 percent to 25 percent.

But Schrader says inmates will not be freed at the expense of public safety.

"We don't want to let people out of the prison system that are very, very dangerous," he said.

Marion County District Attorney Dale Penn said he hopes legislators won't give prisoners a chance to win bigger reductions in their sentences.

"We've always been opposed to changing the sentence after it is imposed," he said. "It causes people to lose faith in the judicial system and the criminal justice system."

Nearly 60 percent of Oregon's nearly 12,000 prison inmates now are eligible for time off for good behavior.