Inmates with mental illness bring extra costs to Monroe prison

Published 10:03 pm Sunday, November 22, 2009

MONROE — Most of the time, the $100,000 man sits alone in his cell.

A 23-year-old diagnosed with schizophrenia, he’s serving time for second-degree murder, Monroe Correctional Complex officials said.

At the prison, he takes anti-psychotic medication. If he follows the pattern of fellow convicts, he may be treated for depression once he grasps that he will be there until 2022, officials said.

He is among the 144 convicts living in Monroe who make up one of the state’s most expensive prison populations. The group costs taxpayers about $14.6 million per year, or $101,653 per man, according to a November report on the prison system requested by the state Legislature.

The group highlights an expensive aspect of the system: the cost of caring for inmates with mental illness. Most prisoners cost closer to $30,000 per year, according to the report.

The special offender unit at Monroe is the only one like it in the state.

“It’s unique in our system,” said Monroe prison superintendent Scott Frakes.

The unit requires significantly higher levels of staffing, driving up the cost of care. Along with psychiatrists and psychologists, more corrections officers are needed.

For example, in a different area of the Monroe prison, the Washington State Reformatory, three officers can monitor about 200 convicts.

At the special offender unit, three officers monitor 36 convicts.

“The cost of supervising this level of inmate is going to be greater no matter where they’re housed, because of the security risk they pose,” said Tracey Thompson, secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local 117, which represents state prison employees.

Many of the convicts in the special offender unit also ring up more medical bills. In some cases, the men come to prison with significant health care problems in addition to psychiatric issues, Frakes said.

“What I see is a population that is often in pretty rough shape when they arrive,” he said.

The group has a diverse make-up. Some are in their 20s, others in their 60s. Some have multiple offenses for armed robbery or narcotics. Others are serving life sentences for homicide.

The cost of operating the special offender unit led to some misleading information in August. The state was considering closing a branch of the prison and the unit’s expenses inflated the annual cost of housing prisoners at Monroe to about $45,000 per convict.

In fact, most prisoners in Monroe cost closer to $30,000 a year to house, according to the November report prepared by Christopher Murray and Associates of Olympia. No parts of the Monroe prison complex — the state’s most populous — were closed.

The staff at the special offender unit tries to treat the convicts so they can eventually be moved into a general prison population. Specific percentages on success weren’t available.

Sometimes the goal is met, and sometimes it’s not.

“There are some that are so ill, so damaged and so dangerous that they don’t leave,” Frakes said.

Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455, arathbun@heraldnet.com.