Bernard Warner, Secretary Department of Corrections

The Department is responsible for the incarceration of about 18,000 offenders.

16,000 male offenders in ten facilities 1,300 female offenders in two facilities 700 offenders in sixteen work release facilities There are an additional 469 community supervision

violators in local jails

High risk to reoffend: 66% More gang-affiliated: 23% Increasing mentally ill population (includes offenders with traumatic brain injuries): 36% Increasing number of female offenders: 8% Developmentally disabled: 9% Over 55: 9%
Offenders over the age of 55 increased 132% since 2000

Nearly 50 percent of female offenders have a mental

illness.

and will grow by an additional 45% by 2023.

The average cost to incarcerate an offender has decreased by 11% since 2009. The average daily cost for an offender in 2012 was $92 per day. Despite closing older, less efficient capacity, DOC still operates facilities that are over 100 years old.
The average daily cost at Monroe Corrections Center

(opened in 1913) is $123 per day; Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell (opened in 2009) is $65 per day.

DOC has opened, closed, re-opened, realigned, and/or repurposed 32 different units in eight different prisons since 2008. Prison population has increased from 6,040 in 1990 to 17,558 in 2013. 26 major sentencing changes have occurred.
15 have been passed in the past decade.

Male offenders have spent 8,400 nights on the floor in the last nine months; female offenders are at 3,200 nights. Due in part to increasing compaction, violent infraction rates in prisons have increased by 34% since the end of 2011, despite the number of offenders convicted of a violent crime dropping by three percent since 2010.
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In 2011, Washington ranked 41st in the nation for imprisonment rate for prison sentences.
In that year, Washingtons rate of imprisonment was 259

per 100,000 residents. Nationally, the imprisonment rate is 430 offenders per 100,000 residents.

Though the average length of stay for an offender in Washington State is 21% less than the national average, it has increased by 27% in the past 20 years.

Determinate sentencing allows for accurate forecasting of costs to better inform law-making.
Major overhaul for drug sentencing.

Growth of Sentencing Alternatives. Offender deportation.

Four different sentencing alternatives. 3,300 alternative sentences issued by courts in 2013. 310 offenders deported since 2010.

Significant decrease in revocations from the community back to prisons. The expansion of evidence-based programming (EBP).
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18,000
17,435 17,560

17,500

17,185 16,852 16,659 16,440 16,343 16,465

17,296

17,000

16,500

16,000

16,348

16,349

16,349

16,353

16,357

16,359

16,362

15,500

15,000

2014 Variance

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Total Male Forecasted Population

Total Male Capacity

The bed needs model shows a total need of 1,200 beds by 2021, at medium security DOC will be short by over 1,300 beds. DOC is running near historical lows in intensive management with nearly 70 beds currently vacant. DOC is housing over 200 medium offenders in close custody which is both inefficient and costly.
All close beds are currently full.

Between 20-30 female offenders have been on the floor consistently all summer.
Female population is up 7% since last summer.

The prison offender forecast utilizes evidencebased program participation to lower growth. The majority of state prisons were not built with programming space. Crowded facilities limit the amount of space available for offender programming.

Continuous modifications made to prison capacity results

in frequent interruptions for offender programming. There are limits to the ratio of offenders for programming.

This creates more idleness and contributes to safety issues.

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2ESSB 5892 Modify the drug sentencing grid resulting in a shift for some offenders from prison confinement to jail.
The estimated Prison Average Daily Population (ADP)

savings equate to a reduction of 92 in fiscal year 2014 and 126 in fiscal year 2015 and thereafter.

2ESSB 5892 Changed the calculation for presentence jail confinement for offenders sentenced to prison.

Estimated ADP savings are a reduction of 51 beds per year.

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Expanded Capacity for Residential Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative (DOSA):

This court-ordered alternative diverts non-violent, non-

sex offenders from prison to a community based treatment program.

Estimated prison ADP savings were estimated at a

reduction 272 beds by the end of fiscal year 2014 by increasing the capacity of the community DOSA beds to 220.

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Jail Bed Contracting RFP Budget Proviso

2013.

The Request for Proposals was issued on September 1, DOC is currently reviewing the county proposals and will be

touring applicable facilities shortly.

Jail Bed Contracting Less than 120 days on sentence

used with the counties.

DOC is working on master contract language that could be

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Modify Sentencing Policies Early release options

The Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) is a collaborative

non-partisan stakeholder process.

Sentencing changes applied retroactively would allow for some early releases Increase investments in infrastructure for evidencebased programming (EBP) to reduce recidivism e.g. long-term prison capacity need

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Contract with counties for the use of vacant jail space for the long term. Expanded Work Release. Increase the use of vacant intensive management beds. Transfer offenders to out-of-state prisons.
their families. Sends jobs out of state.
Out-of-state results in poor outcomes for offenders and

Increased crowding floor sleepers.

Challenging for staff and the offenders.
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Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW)

Pre-design funding ($300,000) to begin the process to

build a 96 bed medium custody unit at WCCW. where to expand.

The current facility has an extremely tight footprint with no Proposal involves demolishing a vacant, unsuitable building

and constructing new capacity in its place. custody.

As with the men, the primary challenge is at Medium Nationally, smaller units are recognized as more suitable for female offenders.
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Maple Lane

Pre-design funding ($1.5 million this fiscal year) to begin

the process to build 768 medium beds and renovate 224 existing beds at Maple Lane for male offenders. special needs populations.

Provides capacity, with appropriate programming space, for Mitigates hiring challenges with health services staff and

supports successful reentry because of its location. sentencing reform not occur or not go far enough.

Holds valuable footprint for future expansion should

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Centralized Pharmacy

Proposed site location at Maple Lane. Insufficient capital budget funds to open

locations in Eastern and Western Washington. Washington

A larger number of pharmacies in Western A Western Washington location creates more

efficiencies for the department and the state

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