diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6caf2f4..5927c3c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,12 +1,18 @@
 
 # Changelog
 
+## 0.6.1 - (2022-04-06)
+
+**Bug fixes:**
+
+- Fixed a bug in the Python package when passing `random_forest_max_features='sqrt'` to `Control`.
+
 ## 0.6.0 - (2022-03-17)
 
 **Breaking changes:**
 
 - The default value for `model_selection_n_permutations` is now 199.
-- The default value for `model_selection_alpha` is now 0.02
+- The default value for `model_selection_alpha` is now 0.02.
 - The default value for `minimal_gain_to_split`, use in the `change_in_mean` setup, is now `log(n) * (d + 1)`, motivated by the BIC and [1].
 - The value for `minimal_gain_to_split` no longer gets automatically multiplied by `n`.
 
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index d5ea2d9..37c5d8a 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ name = "changeforest"
 description = "Classifier based non-parametric change point detection."
 authors = ["Malte Londschien <malte@londschien.ch>"]
 repository = "https://github.com/mlondschien/changeforest/"
-version = "0.6.0"
+version = "0.6.1"
 edition = "2021"
 readme = "README.md"
 license = "BSD-3-Clause"
diff --git a/changeforest-py/Cargo.toml b/changeforest-py/Cargo.toml
index 76b84da..ae1fb05 100644
--- a/changeforest-py/Cargo.toml
+++ b/changeforest-py/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "changeforest_py"
-version = "0.6.0"
+version = "0.6.1"
 edition = "2021"
 
 [lib]
diff --git a/changeforest-py/changeforest/control.py b/changeforest-py/changeforest/control.py
index c0cf71b..c46f227 100644
--- a/changeforest-py/changeforest/control.py
+++ b/changeforest-py/changeforest/control.py
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ def __init__(
 def _to_float(value):
     if value is None:
         return None
-    if value == "default":
-        return "default"
+    elif isinstance(value, str):
+        return value
     else:
         return float(value)
 
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ def _to_float(value):
 def _to_int(value):
     if value is None:
         return None
-    if value == "default":
-        return "default"
+    elif isinstance(value, str):
+        return value
     else:
         return int(value)
diff --git a/changeforest-py/pyproject.toml b/changeforest-py/pyproject.toml
index 649e602..fa12a01 100644
--- a/changeforest-py/pyproject.toml
+++ b/changeforest-py/pyproject.toml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 name = "changeforest"
 description = "Classifier based non-parametric change point detection"
 readme = "README.md"
-version = "0.6.0"
+version = "0.6.1"
 requires-python = ">=3.7"
 author = "Malte Londschien <malte@londschien.ch>"
 urls = {homepage = "https://github.com/mlondschien/changeforest/"}
diff --git a/changeforest-py/tests/test_control.py b/changeforest-py/tests/test_control.py
index 82d3d6d..07971de 100644
--- a/changeforest-py/tests/test_control.py
+++ b/changeforest-py/tests/test_control.py
@@ -41,6 +41,13 @@
         ("X_test", "bs", "random_forest", {"random_forest_n_estimators": 100}, [5]),
         ("X_correlated", "bs", "random_forest", {"random_forest_max_depth": 1}, []),
         ("X_correlated", "bs", "random_forest", {"random_forest_max_depth": 2}, [49]),
+        (
+            "X_correlated",
+            "bs",
+            "random_forest",
+            {"random_forest_max_features": "sqrt"},
+            [49],
+        ),
         ("iris", "bs", "random_forest", {"model_selection_n_permutations": 10}, []),
     ],
 )
diff --git a/changeforest-r/DESCRIPTION b/changeforest-r/DESCRIPTION
index 4a5aec4..3824a94 100644
--- a/changeforest-r/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/changeforest-r/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Package: changeforest
 Type: Package
 Title: Classifier Based Non-Parametric Change Point Detection
-Version: 0.6.0
+Version: 0.6.1
 Author: Malte Londschien
 Maintainer: Malte Londschien <malte@londschien.ch>
 Description: Perform classifier based multivariate, non-parametric change point detection.
diff --git a/changeforest-r/src/rust/Cargo.toml b/changeforest-r/src/rust/Cargo.toml
index 05beb2d..8af09a6 100644
--- a/changeforest-r/src/rust/Cargo.toml
+++ b/changeforest-r/src/rust/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = 'changeforestr'
-version = '0.6.0'
+version = '0.6.1'
 edition = '2021'
 
 [lib]