OLYMPIA — The Washington State Reformatory in Monroe dodged a bullet Wednesday when a much-anticipated study did not recommend closing the nearly 100-year-old facility to save money.
Instead, it suggests about 100 inmates could be moved into the Monroe Correctional Complex from a Yakima facility targeted for closure in the report.
“I’m happy because shutting the reformatory down would have had a significant economic impact on the community,” said Rep. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe.
His legislative colleagues from Pierce, Clark and Walla Walla counties may feel less exuberant because of recommended prison closures in their areas.
Two options sketched out in the 37-page draft report would let legislators reach their goal of eliminating 1,580 prison beds and paring $12 million in Department of Corrections costs by mid-2011. Lawmakers counted on those savings in enacting the current state budget.
One proposal involves closing the main institution of the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, closing half the Larch Corrections Center in Clark County for two years and permanently closing Ahtanum View Corrections Center in Yakima. All together, 1,653 prison beds could be eliminated.
The other option, which would ax 1,618 beds, centers on shrinking the size of the McNeil Island Corrections Center and boarding up Larch and Ahtanum View facilities.
Both scenarios call for moving the 100 elderly and infirm inmates at Ahtanum View into minimum security housing at the Monroe complex.
State corrections officials’ reaction to the plan was limited Wednesday because it is not the final version.
“The recommendations are still being analyzed and could conceivably be changed,” said Belinda Steward, the department’s communications and outreach director.
Consultants seriously considered the value of closing the 740-bed medium-security reformatory in Monroe. Built in 1910, consultants cited the higher cost of operating the reformatory compared to other prison facilities.
According to the state Office of Financial Management, it costs $122.34 per day to house an offender there, compared with $107.65 at McNeil Island.
While the reformatory escaped harm in the draft, its fate could differ in the final report that will be sent Nov. 1 to Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Legislature.
Public comments on the recommendations will be collected through next Wednesday, the consultant will calculate more accurately the costs of closing facilities, moving prisoners and relocating and laying off prison staff.
When all of the data is in then “the consultant could look again at the recommendations,” said Kate Lykins Brown, deputy communications director for the state Office of Financial Management. That agency will consider the study in preparing Gregoire’s supplemental budget for 2010.
The Legislature can ignore the findings and blaze a trail of its own, a prospect already worrying Pearson.
“I think it looks good, but I can imagine that some legislators from Pierce County are going to protect their turf, and the same (goes) for those from Yakima and Walla Walla,” Pearson said.
“If we get into such a situation I would trust my fellow legislators from Snohomish County would stand up for the correctional complex in Monroe,” he said.
The draft report issued Wednesday also examines potential closures of facilities for juvenile offenders.
The document can be read and comments made to the Office of Financial Management at www.ofm.wa.gov.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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