Terry Childs, the San Francisco sysadmin who locked the city out its own network, is going to prison.

He was sentenced on Friday to four years but has already served over two years in custody, which will be deducted from his sentence, IDG reports.

Childs refused to hand over passwords for the city's network, claiming his boss was not qualified to look after them. City mayor Gavin Newsom eventually visited him in prison and convinced him to hand over the necessary codes.

With time served Childs could be out in four to six months. But he still might face a damages claim from the city, which claims it spent $900,000 trying to get back the keys to its own systems.

Childs' lawyer told IDG that an appeal was a still a possibility. ®