Prison system might see changes

Budget cuts would mean shorter prison sentences, earlier release and less post-release supervision for some Washington state inmates. But officials believe the proposed cutbacks won’t jeopardize public safety.

To help close a $5.7 billion budget gap, Gov. Chris Gregoire is telling the state Department of Corrections to cut about $125 million from what otherwise would be a $1.95 billion budget.

DOC Secretary Eldon Vail said to meet the target set by Gregoire the state will mete out shorter sentences for drug offenders, let some older inmates out of prison early, deport illegal immigrant offenders and eliminate or shorten the length of community supervision for thousands of ex-convicts after they get out of prison. About 25 percent of those ex-cons who do violate terms of their release would be under house arrest wearing ankle bracelets instead of going back to jail or prison for up to 60 days.

Will the community be safer after all those moves?

“I can’t guarantee it,” said John Lane, the governor’s criminal justice adviser. “But I think it makes you just as safe as before. It’s not going to be more dangerous.”

“We’ve done this in the way that we think presents the least risk to the public,” Vail said last week.

Prosecutors and victims’ advocates say they aren’t sure yet. But they are not condemning the dramatic changes the governor wants to make to the criminal justice system, either.

One of the budget proposals would eliminate supervision of all offenders who get out of jail after serving sentences for gross misdemeanors. That would save $31 million. Another proposal would eliminate community supervision for about 12,000 offenders who are considered a low to moderate risk of committing another crime. That would save $10 million.

Supervision for the 16,000 worst offenders would be stepped up, Vail said. In addition, the length of supervision for most offenders would be cut from as long as 48 months today to only 12 months, except for sex offenders. Supervision for that group would last for three years. Savings are achieved largely by cutting 400 jobs in DOC’s community supervision division, many of them custody officers, formerly known as parole officers.

‘ELIMINATING INEFFECTIVE SUPERVISION’

Tom McBride, executive secretary for the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, said he considers the elimination of supervision for low-risk offenders more truthful than threatening. Most of those 12,000 probably never were visited at home by a custody officer, he said. Most had only to report to DOC offices and “check in” by placing their hands on a screen at a kiosk in the lobby.

“They’re just eliminating ineffective supervision,” McBride said in a recent interview. “You won’t find many people who think that’s worth saving. It’s such a joke. It should be eliminated.”

Dave Johnson, executive director of the Washington Coalition of Crime Victim Advocates, said he wants to know more about how prison officials are classifying offenders. This summer, DOC started using a new tool to classify offenders as high-violent, high-nonviolent, moderate and low. Those classifications seek to predict the likelihood an offender will commit another crime after his or her release from prison or jail. Vail said inmates in the two “high” categories, which now number 16,000, still will be supervised. The other 12,000 inmates will not.

“That sounds like a big number,” Johnson said. “My concern from a victim’s standpoint is not so much about the number as ‘Who are these people? Are they people who really should be supervised?’ You can call a guy low-risk, but is he really low risk?”

Changes to supervision are a continuation of what lawmakers began in 2003. That year the Legislature also was facing a budget crunch and cut 24,000 offenders off supervision, shortened sentences for property crimes and let many offenders earn more “good time” so they got out of prison early.

A by-product of having fewer ex-cons under supervision is less liability for crimes committed by offenders who are poorly supervised.

In simple terms, the state gets sued for doing a bad job of keeping an eye on the ones they say they are supervising, not for the bad things done by offenders who no longer are under supervision.

“In essence, they only have responsibility and accountability for the people they are supervising,” said Larry Shannon, lobbyist for the Washington Trial Lawyers Association. “But the evaluation process that they use to rank the offender (and assign a risk level) has to be done responsibly.”

Shannon said the trial lawyers who are most familiar with changes made to community supervision believe the state is generally moving in the right direction by “putting the resources and focus on the bad guys.”

FORECAST CALLS FOR FEWER PRISONERS

DOC Secretary Vail said the prison system is benefitting from a lower forecast of offenders. As recently as February, forecasters thought there would be 20,000 inmates in prison by mid-2011. Now, that number is pegged at about 19,000.

Some new laws, such as the one that requires a one-year prison sentence for a fifth drunken driving conviction, did not increase the prison population as much as was first thought. Consequently, a women’s prison outside Spokane can be shut down and wings of the state penitentiary in Walla Walla can be closed for a while. Vail said his agency will try to further reduce the prison population by:

 • Seeking an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to speed up deportation of criminals who are illegal immigrants. That would mean 385 fewer inmates each year.

 • Release older, nonviolent inmates early if they are ill or have chronic medical conditions. That reduces prison population by 45 inmates.

 • Revise sentencing laws for drug offenders so they spend less time in prison. That would lower the population by an estimated 242 next year and 310 in the following years.

 • Instead of sending ex-convicts who violate terms of their release back to prison or jail – which happened more than 18,000 times last year – enroll them in drug treatment or put them under house arrest with GPS monitors. Vail said the goal is to put 25 percent of violators on electronic home monitoring.

“Not every single person needs to go back to jail,” Vail said.

“We’ve had to make some hard decision and $125 million is not pocket change,” he added.

Vail had asked the governor to approve a two-year budget of $1.95 billion with 9,491 employees for 2009-11. The governor told him to cut $125 million and 485 workers from that amount.

Even after the cuts, the prison system will have 72 more employees and $53 million more in 2009-11 than it has in the current 2007-09 budget period.

Joseph Turner: 253-597-8436

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