County has ‘low need’ for work-release sites
SEAN ROBINSON; The News Tribune
It’s sort of official – the state of Washington now agrees that Pierce County doesn’t really need any new work-release programs for prison inmates.
Nine other counties are far more deserving, according to the state Department of Corrections, which intends to double the 670 work-release beds in Washington over the next decade.
Corrections leaders released a preliminary list Monday of potential work-release sites that ranked Washington’s 39 counties in order of need. Pierce County was among eight counties classified as “low need.” Nine counties, including Snohomish, which has no work-release sites, were classified as “high need.”
“Well, that is great,” said Pierce County Prosecutor Gerry Horne, a longtime critic of the state’s offender-release policies and their effect on the county’s crime rate. “I’m pleased to hear that. I’m still concerned – I’m still gonna watch carefully, because it’s so easy to continue business as usual.
“We’re still not out of the woods, but that’s encouraging.”
If a statewide advisory committee buys the agency’s rankings, it could mean new work-release facilities will land outside Pierce County, historically a magnet for such programs.
Legislation passed during the 2007 legislative session requires the corrections agency to make substantial efforts to distribute work-release sites more equitably.
“We look forward to working closely with local governments and the public in a transparent process to make work-release programs available in areas of our state that need them,” read a written statement from Corrections Secretary Harold Clarke. “Work-release makes the public safer by helping offenders successfully adjust from life in prison to life as law-abiding citizens in the community.”
Work-release programs allow offenders reaching the end of their prison sentences to spend the last six months of confinement in community-based residential facilities. Offenders in the programs are supposed to get and keep jobs, theoretically assisting their return to society.
The state’s existing work-release beds are spread through 15 sites in Yakima, King, Spokane, Whatcom, Thurston, Cowlitz, Pierce, Clark and Benton counties. Pierce County has three work-release facilities and 125 beds – about 18.6 percent of the statewide total.
To reach their conclusions, corrections analysts created a statistical formula that examined the number of offenders released from prisons in 2006 and the number of work-release beds available by county.
Those numbers were matched to the numbers of offenders in community supervision (formerly known as parole), and the county where the offender was originally convicted.
The state’s analysis labeled the following counties and groups of counties as those with the greatest need for work-release programs: Chelan/Douglas/Kittitas; Clark/Skamania; Grays Harbor/Mason; Lewis; and Snohomish.
Counties with a moderate need: Clallam/Jefferson; Ferry/Stevens/Pend Oreille/Lincoln; Franklin; Grant/Adams; Island/San Juan; Klickitat; Okanogan, Pacific/Wahkiakum; Skagit; Thurston; Walla Walla/Columbia; Whitman/Garfield/Asotin.
Counties with the lowest need: Benton; Cowlitz; King; Kitsap; Pierce; Spokane; Whatcom and Yakima. In the last group, all but Kitsap have existing work-release facilities.
A 2006 News Tribune series, “Dumping Ground,” examined the state’s historical practice of pushing ex-convicts into Pierce County – a condition long bemoaned by Horne. While the newspaper’s analysis differed from Horne’s conclusions in some respects, independent research confirmed that Pierce County received more than its fair share of the state’s ex-convicts, primarily because of a concentration of work-release and pre-release facilities.
Monday’s announcement by the Department of Corrections does not eliminate the possibility that Pierce County could receive more work-release beds.
The statewide advisory committee, which includes judges, prosecutors, local government officials, law enforcement leaders and victim advocacy groups, will review the agency’s findings. The public statement from the Department of Corrections notes that the list could change when the advisory committee completes its review. The committee’s deadline is November 2008.
Sean Robinson: 253-597-8486
sean.robinson@thenewstribune.com
