Options for reducing prison capacity include Walla Walla

By Drew Foster, Herald staff writer

WALLA WALLA -- A final report recommending how the state Department of Corrections can eliminate more than 1,500 prison beds still contains options that would close Washington State Penitentiary's 100-plus-year-old main institution, but it'll cost the cash-strapped state $41 million.

That $41 million would go toward building two new facilities in Walla Walla and expanding the prison's kitchen.

State Rep. Maureen Walsh, R-College Place, said finding $41 million for prison construction, especially after a $100 million expansion was recently completed in Walla Walla, likely will be difficult.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense," she said.

The final report offers three options. The state Office of Financial Management called the third choice "the consultant's preferred recommendation."

Option one, which is recommended if the state can't find the $41 million, spares closing the penitentiary's main institution. Instead, the McNeil Island facility in southern Puget Sound would downsize to minimum security, Ahtanum View Corrections Center in Yakima would close and one living unit at the Larch Corrections Center near Vancouver would be closed for six years. Ahtanum View Corrections Center inmates would be relocated to Monroe Correctional Complex.

The third option could be used if the state finds the $41 million. It calls for building a 256-bed medium-security and 198-bed closed-custody facility in Walla Walla. Once that construction was complete, the main institution would be closed. Other institutions would be affected as well.

The consultant estimated the third option would save the state $180 million in operating costs and $80 million in capital expenditures over the next 10 years.

Option two, which could be used if the state finds the $41 million, calls for closing the main institution and opening a 240-bed minimum-security unit in existing space at the penitentiary. Option two also would affect other institutions. The two new facilities also would be built in Walla Walla under the second option.

The study was ordered by the state Legislature earlier this year and the Office of Financial Management was tasked with commissioning it. The study, prepared by consultant Christopher Murray & Associates, cost $463,000.

The Office of Financial Management's recommendations now go to the governor's office and will be considered next year by the Legislature, which can choose to go with one of the options or design its own plan.

A draft report released last month offered two options: Closing the Walla Walla institution's main institution or downsizing the McNeil Island facility to minimum security. Both choices also included closing the Ahtanum View Corrections Center.

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Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

Options for reducing prison capacity include Walla Walla

By Drew Foster, Herald staff writer