Yeah the only thing I could figure with Hartigan being let out was they wanted him to lead them to Nancy (sending him the finger in the mail and all), but you'd think that'd be pretty obvious.

I thought that perhaps I had blinked and missed the part where it said his old partner was transfering him to another prison and Hartigan killed/got away from him or something... I dunno.

As for Goldie... hmm

It was said that she "did" the cloth (clergy), so I can only figure that maybe she saw/heard about Kevin's favorite food... but if so, I don't see why they couldn't have just killed/ate her too. I dunno...