Some Pierce County Superior Court judges say state cuts in supervision of felons the last few years have made their courts too busy with offenders who remain under the court’s review, and could increase the risk to public safety if those offenders commit new crimes.
Judge Frank Cuthbertson said discussions are under way among judges and attorneys about Pierce County contracting with a private company to supervise offenders after they’re released from prison.
And some state lawmakers have discussed counties taking on the state’s cost of supervising offenders after incarceration.
Pierce County Council member Dick Muri says “no” to both ideas.
“It’s not a county responsibility,” said Muri, a member of the council’s public safety and human services committee. “We don’t have the money to do supervision.”
Muri said he’s also concerned about cuts in community supervision. But taking on that responsibility would put the county at risk for lawsuits if felons commit new crimes, he said.
Muri said the state is shirking its responsibility by reducing community supervision by the Department of Corrections.
Cuthbertson wrote in a recent publication of the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association that criminal dockets are overcrowded with review hearings for felons under the supervision of Superior Court because of cuts imposed by the Legislature.
“Several proposals are being considered to balance the criminal court dockets and there are ongoing discussions about the county contracting with a private vendor to supervise felons,” Cuthbertson wrote in the January issue of The Bar News. “Private supervision would be paid for by the criminal defendants themselves.”
One county – Clallam County on the Olympic Peninsula – is already using a private company to supervise offenders.
“We are just desperately looking for remedies and are open to that,” Cuthbertson said during an interview with The News Tribune.
He said contracting for supervision would require the County Council’s approval, even if it was self-supporting.
Presiding Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff said the idea of private supervision is just a “very preliminary” notion for now.
Some of the 22 Pierce County Superior Court judges are setting significantly more hearings for offenders to make sure they’re completing conditions of their sentence, such as treatment for drug addiction, Chushcoff said.
The Superior Court judges are sharing the load of the review hearings, Cuthbertson said. But he said these hearings are set months in advance and often push over pleadings and sentencings to other days.
Both Chushcoff and Cuthbertson said they’re concerned public safety could be compromised.
“If the Department of Corrections is not going to do it, judges feel there’s a sense that we have to do it,” Chushcoff said. “We’re not equipped for it.”
Cuthbertson said corrections officers working in the community can do a better, more thorough job than judges of checking and making sure felons are carrying out conditions of their sentences.
Muri, who until recently was chairman of the county’s public safety committee, said he hadn’t heard of the idea of contracting with a private company. He said felons aren’t in a position to pay the cost of their supervision after getting out of prison.
“This is all the state’s business,” Muri said. “I’m really concerned the amount of supervision is going down on some of these felons and the public’s going to pay the price. ... They’re probably going to commit even more crimes sooner.”
Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said he supports a private contract as the best alternative for increasing community supervision of felons.
“It makes sense from both a financial and a public safety standpoint,” Lindquist said. “This shifts the expense to the offender. It’s a real viable option we’re exploring.”
In 2009, the Legislature cut supervision by corrections officers of felons with low- and moderate-risk of reoffending. More changes took effect last summer.
The number of community corrections officers has been cut by nearly 30 percent in the past two years – from about 900 in October 2009 to 640, said Chad Lewis, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections.
Meanwhile, the number of felons supervised by community corrections officers has been cut by nearly half – from 28,000 in mid-2009 to 15,000 currently, Lewis said.
“That’s something we’ve done to rein in costs,” said Anna Aylward, assistant secretary of DOC’s community corrections division. “The cases we no longer are supervising are lower risk. There’s risk to that but it’s relatively lower risk.”
DOC supervises 2,400 offenders in Pierce County, of which about 1,550 are considered a high risk to commit a new crime, Lewis said.
The average time of community supervision is 16 months, Lewis said. Gov. Chris Gregoire in her latest budget proposed reducing that time to 12 months. The average length of supervision for sex offenders would be cut from 36 months to 24 months, Lewis said.
Gregoire’s budget also reduces jail time for offenders who violate the terms of their release. But her budget doesn’t reduce the number of offenders supervised.
Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647
steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/politics
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.