SACRAMENTO—A Northern California parole supervisor altered official documents to release ex-convicts from parole in possible violation of state law, prison officials said Wednesday.

The district administrator was transferred to a different post Wednesday while the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation investigates what officials said was at least a policy violation, if not a crime.

The administrator had overseen parolees in parts of Sacramento and San Joaquin counties.

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, who first complained about the administrator's actions, said the actions may have jeopardized public safety by ending supervision of dangerous criminals.

Spitzer, who chairs the Assembly's Select Committee on Prison Construction and Operations, alleged the supervisor was under intense pressure to end paroles as quickly as possible for as many parolees as possible to help trim the prisons' bulging population.

Fewer parolees means fewer parole violators to be sent back to prison at a time when federal judges are considering a cap on the inmate population.

"They don't want anyone on parole, regardless of the impact on public safety," said Spitzer, R-Orange.

Scott Kernan, the department's chief deputy secretary of adult operations, said in a statement that, "we take public safety extremely seriously" in parole decisions.