The four inmates were among 1,900 day care providers who had been convicted of crimes including child abuse, murder and sex offenses, making them unsuitable to work in a day care center.

By failing to identify those day care workers and allowing them to care for children, the Department of Human Services placed about 4,600 children at risk, according to the audit. The state auditors were unaware if any children had been harmed by the day care workers.

The auditors blame the situation on insufficient background checks. DHS employees periodically checked day care license applicants against the State Police's Internet Criminal History Access Tool (ICHAT) database, but missed many who had criminal records. In some cases, the code the DHS was using for certain crimes was out-of-date and, therefore, failed to detect certain convicted criminals working in day care centers. The DHS also did not obtain criminal backgrounds of others living in homes that provide day care services.

State auditors uncovered the 1,900 convicted criminals missed by the DHS by checking those same applicants against the state's sex offender registry and the state Corrections Department's online list of prison inmates and parolees under state supervision.

The 1,900 unsuitable day care workers found by the auditors included 428 convicted of child abuse and neglect, as well as several convicted on drug charges, murder, assault, home invasion, armed robbery and prison escape. The four who were in prison at the time they received their day care licenses were convicted of homicide, drug possession and receiving and concealing stolen property.

(Source: Source: http://www.mlive.com)