Don’t expect any felons to get out out of prison early as a means of helping the state save money on criminal justice.
Democratic Sens. Adam Kline, Jim Hargrove and Jeanne Kohl-Welles introduced a bill described in a staff report as an early release program in which inmates could get up to 30 days carved off the end of their sentences.
Senate Bill 6175 was on a Senate Ways and Means Committee agenda for a hearing last Saturday. I went in to listen only to see it had been pulled off. Also Saturday, I saw Gov. Chris Gregoire in the halls of the O’Brien and Cherberg buildings talking with different people. Early release was among the conversations she had that day.
Tuesday afternoon she told me she was letting folks know she opposed any early release proposal. Now the Senate bill is dead and the staff report is no longer online. That also means Gregoire is dropping her idea of letting women convicted of nonviolent crimes out of jails early to care for their children. She’s not giving up on it.
“We’re going to look at that over the interim because the state in a number of instances is paying for the incarceration of a female at the same time we are paying for the foster care of the children.
These are typically folks that are not there for violent crimes. Often times they are there because of an addiction. Where we can get them help and they can be in contact with their children or even care for their children while they are getting help outside is what we want to look at over the interim.” > Give us your news tips. > Send us a letter to the editor. > More Herald contact information.Talk to us