diff --git a/changes/read_circpriorityhalflife_correctly b/changes/read_circpriorityhalflife_correctly
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9fcbd6923e6dbb14acf9aed6cc328aafef686dcb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/read_circpriorityhalflife_correctly
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+ o Major bugfixes:
+   - Fix a stupid parenthesization error that made every possible value
+     of CircPriorityHalflifeMsec get treated as "1 msec".  Bugfix on
+     0.2.2.7-alpha.
+
diff --git a/src/or/relay.c b/src/or/relay.c
index 599d3d9c80eb0c1a2f92a33704d42c4975a98f92..c417cbedcb589900d660298be5955f3c82465c2d 100644
--- a/src/or/relay.c
+++ b/src/or/relay.c
@@ -1865,7 +1865,7 @@ cell_ewma_set_scale_factor(or_options_t *options, networkstatus_t *consensus)
     source = "CircuitPriorityHalflife in configuration";
   } else if (consensus &&
              (halflife_ms = networkstatus_get_param(
-                   consensus, "CircPriorityHalflifeMsec", -1) >= 0)) {
+                   consensus, "CircPriorityHalflifeMsec", -1)) >= 0) {
     halflife = ((double)halflife_ms)/1000.0;
     source = "CircPriorityHalflifeMsec in consensus";
   } else {