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| More Wash. prisoners to be shipped out of state |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/06/2005 |
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Washington state is preparing to transfer up to 300 more inmates in coming months to out-of-state facilities in an effort to ease chronic overcrowding in its prisons. The state's adult prison population is at 17,600, its system overcrowded by about 1,400 inmates. The Department of Corrections already has 525 inmates in prisons in Minnesota, Colorado, Nevada and Arizona in an effort to relieve the crush. But with more expected, inmates within two months will be shipped out to one of 64 prisons run by the nation's largest private jailer. Corrections Corporation of America in Nashville, Tenn., already holds 290 Washington inmates. The Legislature approved construction of a new prison and updates to another two to add nearly 2,400 new beds - but that won't be completed until 2008. "We don't have beds in state to house these offenders, and we have to put them in beds," said Anne Fiala, a senior DOC administrator in Olympia. Before the move, Corrections will screen inmates statewide. Most likely moved will be those with few health problems and little history of misconduct. Prisoners with frequent family visits would be last to go, according to screening criteria. Last month, Gov. Christine Gregoire signed a state construction budget that includes a new 1,290-bed state prison in Franklin County. The $179 million complex is the first new prison since the 1,930-bed Stafford Creek near Aberdeen was opened in 2000. The Walla Walla prison is also being expanded by nearly 900 beds and being converted into a solely maximum-security facility, and 200 more beds are being added at the Monroe Correctional Complex. When construction is complete, all Washington prisoners will be returned to the state. In the late 1980s, Washington prisons were so under capacity that the state imported nearly 2,000 prisoners. But corrections officials have had few options to house prisoners in the last two years when roughly 2,100 new inmates were sent to Washington's major prisons but only 45 new beds were added. To lighten the load, 240 inmates went to Nevada state prisons in 2003. A year later, the state appealed to the Nashville company for help, sending staff along with hundreds of inmates to act as contract monitors. The cost to taxpayers is about $62 a day per inmate, slightly higher than the $55 per day for in-state prisons. |
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