Local opposition mounts on Pine Lodge Correction Center closure

Legislators from 7th, 9th district join other officials questioning Gov. Gregoire's plans to shut down the Medical Lake facility

By RYAN LANCASTER

Staff Reporter

Those opposing the closure of Medical Lake's Pine Lodge Corrections Center for Women continued to question the action's legitimacy as the Washington state Legislature rounded out its third week in session.

According to 9th District Rep. Susan Fagan, she and a group of fellow House and Senate lawmakers have been evaluating the logic of the move, which was discussed in numerous legislative hearings and work sessions last week. “What we're learning is how efficient this facility is,” she said. “We're looking for all the reasons it should stay open and we're finding a lot. From our analysis Pine Lodge stands out as a facility that is doing a very good job.”

The prison achieved a perfect score on mandatory standards and a 99.7 percent score on non-mandatory standards during their American Correctional Association accreditation in 2008. The ACA is the only national organization that accredits correctional facilities by inspecting the quality and adequacy of a facility's programs, activities and services, according to their Web site.

Pine Lodge was also one of the most cost-effective prisons in the state before reductions last year halved the facility, according to data from the Department of Corrections. “The reason costs have gone up at Pine Lodge was because we've already shut one unit down, so the economy of scale was lost,” DOC secretary Eldon Vail said while testifying before the House General Government Appropriations Committee last Friday, Jan. 22.

The committee also heard testimony from Christopher Murray, the consultant who prepared a feasibility report on state facilities closures. Both Murray and Vail addressed the report's finding that “absent reduced populations or increased community placement, we found no opportunities for closing DOC facilities for females.”

Vail said that while the report was being drawn up, new prison population forecasts were released that reversed a previous call for more prison beds over the next few years. Cuts to law enforcement, better treatment programs and legislative actions taken in 2009 were three reasons he cited for the falloff in inmate numbers. He also said a bill now being discussed promotes a “custodial parent alternative,” which would offer community supervision instead of incarceration in some non-violent cases, primarily women.

Murray said that with the recent attacks on law officers in the state and the likelihood of other high profile crimes occurring, he expects “that the pendulum will sometime swing the other way and we will see growth returning to higher levels, but at the present we are operating on the best information that we have available and that is the caseload forecast.”

Tim Welch, a spokesman for the Washington Federation of State Employees, said so far in the session he's been surprised by the level of knowledge legislators have about Pine Lodge. “There are many asking questions about the Therapeutic Community there and why there would be no women's prison on the east side, and a lot of these are west side legislators,” he said. “I think many are irked that the governor is going above their heads with this.”

Gov. Chris Gregoire has directed the DOC to begin processing reductions at the prison, but no closure can take place until after the legislature passes a budget in March. Some lawmakers question why a closure plan is already in place before they have weighed in on the matter.

“We still have to OK this,” said 9th District Rep. Joe Schmick. “House Republicans are decidedly unhappy that there has been no public comment session on the closing of this prison.”

Schmick said he and other legislators from the 7th and 9th districts have organized a town hall meeting this Saturday, Jan. 30, at Medical Lake's City Hall to gather public comments that will be recorded and transcribed. Gregoire, DOC secretary Vail and representatives of the 3rd, 4th and 6th districts have all been invited to attend, Schmick said.

Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].