Gov. Paterson and the Legislature responded with rare swiftness this week to avert a jailbreak of potentially nightmarish proportions.

As The Post first reported last week, an April 29 Court of Appeals ruling would have sprung hundreds of violent felons – and freed thousands more convicts from parole supervision – because sentencing judges had failed to tell them that they’d be subject to parole supervision after completing their prison sentences.

On Monday, the governor and Legislature agreed to a bill that forces felons covered by the ruling to go through new sentencing hearings.

Given how law-and-order legislation can often be held up for years in Albany, it’s nice to see the Assembly and Senate fix a dire problem quickly.

For once, they put the safety of New Yorkers front and center.

Kudos all around.