June 10, 2007

Last summer, we co-chaired a legislative task force on prison and re-entry reform.  Our goal: to reduce recidivism by changing how our state deals with felons both inside our prisons and upon re-entry into our communities.  Much of our work was guided by the groundbreaking research of the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, which has spent the past several years analyzing prison capacity and the types of programs shown to reduce repeat offenses. 

In Sunday’s Insight section, Amber Gunn asserted the construction of more prisons is the best solution to state prison capacity problems.  The state already has a new 1,792-bed prison under construction at Coyote Ridge.  We do not believe a second new prison is the next best step.  We do believe a better alternative is reducing the recidivism rate. 

We agree public safety is among the highest priorities of government.  However, without corrective measures, many released offenders are still likely to commit new crimes resulting in new victims and increased criminal justice costs through an increased need for more law enforcement officers, increased court costs and increased incarceration levels at both the local and state level.  This is a fact Ms. Gunn has ignored. 

The institute’s studies show with the right combination of prison program reforms and more comprehensive re-entry programs, the state can cut the recidivism rate by 20 to 30 percent.  This reduces the need to build and staff more prisons and would also result in criminal justice savings at the city and county levels. 

Recent history shows building more prisons does not solve the central problem with the current system.  Ninety-seven percent of offenders are eventually released back into the community.  Without addressing the problems that brought them to prison, the likelihood of committing a new crime is high.  Unfortunately, the recidivism rate has actually increased during the past few years.  In 1996, the recidivism rate was 31 percent; the rate for felons released in 2006 is projected to be 44 percent. 

Recidivism rates are climbing sharply for a number of reasons, including less access to treatment programs in prisons as incarceration rates increase.  Senate Bill 6157, now signed into law, holds both offenders and our prison system accountable to utilize the period of incarceration to address the problems that brought the offenders to prison in the first place – drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness, emotional problems, low education levels, and lack of job skills. 

Our bill requires an Individual Re-entry Plan to guide the process for all offenders – not only while they are in prison but also after their release back into society.  These plans will utilize the programs identified by the institute as effective in reducing recidivism rather than recycling felons back to prison in increasing numbers.  The biennial budget provides increased resources to the Department of Corrections to begin this process.  SB 6157 also initiates several strategies to improve community supervision of offenders who are transitioning out of prison. 

We believe important, complex issues such as criminal justice should be tackled in a comprehensive approach rather than a simplistic answer for one component of the system.  Fortunately, the Legislature agrees with us that comprehensive prison and re-entry reform is a smarter and less costly approach to prison capacity problems. 

It is a far more effective crime-fighting tool to keep released felons from re-offending than re-arresting and prosecuting them for new crimes and building new prisons to house them.

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