OLYMPIA – The Washington Senate, hoping to ease the chronic problem of repeat crime by ex-convicts, on Friday approved a sweeping set of prison reforms aimed at rehabilitating inmates and following up with strong community supervision and services.
It was the second trip through the Senate for the legislation, and lawmakers pointedly said House critics will be guilty of a shameful crime themselves if they block the bill.
House Democrats put the brakes on the original Senate bill after minority Republicans issued a campaign-style “alert” that framed the bill as soft on crime by putting felons ahead of families.
Gov. Chris Gregoire, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, senators from both parties, and a bevy of supporters, including prosecutors and law enforcement, jumped into action. Senate corrections Chairman Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, worked on the House Democrats, and the main Senate Republican sponsor, Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood, an anti-crime hard-liner, worked on the Republicans.
The Senate agreed to scale back a few provisions of the bill and wrote an unusually detailed bill title so it could not be amended by unfriendly forces in the House. The measure passed with a strong bipartisan vote, 43-4.
The House-Senate tensions were apparent during Senate debate Friday.
“If the House doesn’t pass the bill, they have chosen to put the citizens of this state at risk” by failing to fix inmates’ problems or adequately supervise them in the community, Hargrove said.
A legislative study team commissioned a national study to find the reforms that have cut down on repeat offenses by ex-cons, and the best provisions have been folded into the bill, he said.
“It will save taxpayers money (for more prisons and for the cost of repeat crime), and will save us victims,” Hargrove said. Addressing the House over TVW television cameras, he said, “To know the right thing and not to do it is just as wrong as to do the wrong thing.”
Others joined the refrain, including Brown, who said that for the House to reject the legislation “would be a type of crime” for the harm it would cause the state. The bill is not “mushy” hug-a-thug legislation, but tough-minded steps to deal with the repeat crime problem, Brown said.
“We have got a huge problem,” Carrell said. “Ten years ago, 31 percent returned to prison because of new crimes and today, a decade later, that number is 44 percent.
“The state of Washington is in a death spiral regarding recidivism rates. Continuing to do what we have done for decades simply is no longer keeping the people of the state safe.”
The prison system says 83 percent of those who are returned to prison didn’t get any help at all during their first prison stay, such as drug and alcohol treatment, schooling or job training, Carrell said. Eighty percent didn’t have a job and 49 percent were essentially homeless, he said.
“This is something we can correct,” he said.
Sen. Debbie Regala, D-Tacoma, said about 8,500 inmates are released every year and that thousands more are under state supervision. If inmates and ex-cons have their problems fixed, it’s clear they’ll be far less likely to re-offend, she said.
The prison system has been under increasing fire for the revolving door of felons in and out of prison. Three law enforcement officers died at the hands of ex-cons who were under state supervision last year.
The state also has been accused of being lax with its supervision, and the Department of Corrections was criticized for releasing felons from overcrowded county jails before they served full sentences for violating their probation.
Prison reform highlights
Revolving doors: The state Senate has approved sweeping reforms, demanding that prisons do more than warehouse inmates. Each felon is to have a “re-entry” plan to deal with their problems, such as education, drug dependence or lack of job skills. The bill also deals with community services, tracking by the criminal justice system and tougher penalties for violating probation.
By the numbers: About 8,500 offenders are released each year, and about 25,900 are under state supervision in the community. Studies show that about 4 out of 10 ex-convicts re-offend within five years.
Price tag: The state pays about $27,000 a year to house each inmate. The Department of Corrections budget is about $700 million a year, not counting construction costs. Legislature proposes spending more than $30 million on the re-entry program for the next two years.
What’s next?: The Senate reform plan, SB6157, is before the state House. More details are available at the prisons’ Web site, www.doc.wa.gov; the bill background is available at www.leg.wa.gov.
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