PRISON DIALOGUES-- Gregory Brown: PRISONERS UNION

DOC's Responsibilities

2005-03-28T22:33:00.000-08:00

Department of Corrections

RCW 72.01.050(2) The Secretary of corrections shall have full power to manage, govern, and name all state correctional facilities, subject only to the limitations contained in laws relating to this management of such institutions.

RCW 72.01.090. Rules and regulations. The department is authorized to make its own rules for the proper execution of its powers. It shall also have the power to adopt rules and regulations for the government of the public institutions placed under its control, and shall therein prescribe, in a manner consistent with the provisions of this title, the duties of the persons connected with the management of such public institutions

Making an Arrest

2005-03-27T21:45:00.000-08:00

RCW 36.28.010. General duties. The sheriff is the chief executive officer and conservator of the peace of the county. In the execution of his office, he and his deputies:
(1) Shall arrest and commit to prison all persons who break the peace, or attempt to break it, and all persons guilty of public offenses;
(2) Shall defend the county against those who, by riot or otherwise endanger the public peace or safety;
(3) Shall execute the process and orders of the courts of justice or judicial officers, when delivered for that purpose, according to law;
(4) Shall execute warrants delivered for that purpose by other public officers, according to the provisions of particular statutes;
(5) Shall attend the sessions of the courts of record held within the county, and obey their lawful orders or directions;
(6) Shall keep and preserve the peace in their respective counties, and quiet and suppress all affrays, riots, unlawful assemblies and insurrections, for which purpose, and for the service of process in civil or criminal cases, and in apprehending or securing any person for felony or breach of the peace, they may call to their aid such persons, or power of their county as they may deem necessary.

RCW 36.28.011. Duty to make complaint. In addition to the duties contained in RCW 36.28.010, it shall be the duty of all sheriffs to make complaint of all violations of criminal law, which shall come to their knowledge, within their respective jurisdictions. State v. Twitchell, 61 Wn. 2d 403, 378 P. 2d 444 (1963) (sheriff must make arrest when crime is properly brought to his attention).

A private citizen may make a warrantless citizen's arrest of a person who is committing or has committed a felony in or out of his or her presence. State v. Jack, 63 Wn. 2d 632, 388 P. 2d 566 (1964); State v. Harp, 12 Wn. App. 239, 534 P. 2d (1975; State v. Williams, 27 Wn. App. 848, 621 P. 2d 176 (1964). The felony must have actually been committed and the private person must have probable cause to believe that the person being arrested committed the felony. State v. Jack, supra.

A private person may make a warrantless citizen's arrest for a misdemeanor only if it constitutes a breach of peace and is committed in that private person's presence. State v. Gonzales, 24 Wn. App. 437, 604 P. 2d 168 (1979); State v. Miller, 103 Wn. 2d 792, 698 P. 2d 554 (1985). A breach of peace ordinarily involves some actual or potential disturbance of public order and tranquility or conduct which tends to provoke or incite others to violence. This arrest must occur during or immediately after the perpetration of the offense. McWilliams v. Interstate Bakeries, Inc., 439 F. 2d 16 (5th Cir. 1971.}

Probable cause for a police officer making an arrest is the same as probable cause for a private person making a warrantless citizen's arrest. State v. Darst, 65 Wn. 2d 808, 399 P. 2d 618 (1965); State v. Williams, supra; State v. Jack, supra. A private person has probable cause to make a warrantless citizen's arrest when the private person has trustworthy information which would justify a person of reasonable caution in believing that an offense has been or is being committed and that a particular person committed it. State v. Warfield, 103 Wn. App. 152, 5 P. 3d 1280 (2000); State v. Williams, supra.

When no reasonably effective alternative exists, a private person making a warrantless citizen's arrest may use an amount of necessary, reasonable force to deliver the person being arrested to a public officer competent to retain custody of the arrested person. RCW 9A.16.020(2). A citizen making a warrantless citizen's arrest may even use deadly force in attempting to arrest a person who has committed a felony in his or her presence. RCW 9A.16.050(2); State v. Clarke, 61 Wn. 2d 138, 377 P. 2d 449 (1962); State v. Kerr, 14 Wn. App. 584, 544 P. 2d 38 (1975).

In arresting a person for a misdemeanor involving a breach of peace committed in his or her presence, a private person making a warrantless citizen's arrest generally may not kill the person being arrested, even if such deadly force would have been necessary to take the person into custody. The private person must simply let the person go. Deadly force involving a warrentless citizen's arrest may only occur when the private parson is acting in self defense. Coldeen v. Reid, 107 Wn. 508, 182 P. 599 (1919); State v. Kerr, supra.

A person being arrested has a right to respond to unreasonable force. State v. Mather, 28 Wn. App. 700, 626 P. 2d 44 (1981). This basically means that a private person making a warrantless citizen's arrest cannot walk up and tackle a person who has not offered any resistance, or may not use any other "unnecessary force" in order to take the person into custody. When a person defends himself from unnecessary or unreasonable force being used against him, that person's resistance must be limited to that which is necessary to free himself from the unnecessary or unreasonable force. State v. Cormier, 100 Wn. App. 457, 997 P. 2d 950 (2000); State v. Valentine, 132 Wn. 2d 1, 935 P, 2d 1294 *1997). This basically means the person being arrested may repel the unnecessary or unreasonable force, and then must submit himself to arrest. At that point, the person being arrested has no right to resist arrest, since an arrest accompanied by reasonably necessary force is considered "lawful." RCW 9A.176.040. The person being arrested cannot claim he did not know the arrest was "lawful." State v. Goree, 36 Wn. App. 205, 673 P. 2d 194 (1983).

WDOC Facilities, addresses, etc.

2005-03-26T23:35:00.000-08:00

[CLICK THIS LINK to go to Washington Department of Corrections Website with much more, current, information, live links, etc.:]
http://www.doc.wa.gov/
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Regions -- Our Community Field Offices and Correctional Facilities
Northwest Region
Total Staff: 1,866Prison Facilities: 3 - CBCC, MCC, OCCWork Release: 1 - BellinghamCJC: 1 - EverettField Offices/Units: 13
Northwest Region Administrative Office 8625 Evergreen Way, St. 100 SEverett, WA 98208-2620 (425) 356-2800
Everett CommunityJustice Center/Everett Field Unit 8625 Evergreen Way, St. 108Everett, WA 98208 (425) 290-3200
Lynnwood Office 18710 33rd Avenue West Lynnwood, WA 98037
Marysville Office (360)658-21501801 Grove Street, Unit D Marysville, WA 98270
Monroe Office (360)794-259216492 170th Drive SE Monroe, WA 98272
Monroe Correctional Complex (Twin Rivers Unit) 167740 170th Dr. SE Post Office Box 888 Monroe, WA 98272-0888 (360) 794-2400
Monroe Correctional Complex - Washington State Reformatory Unit 16700 177th Avenue S.E. Post Office Box 777 Monroe, WA 98272-0777 (360) 794-2600
Monroe Correctional Complex -- Minimum Security Unit 16700 177th Avenue S.E. Post Office Box 7001Monroe, WA 98272-7001 (360) 794-2201
Monroe Correctional Complex -- Special Offender Unit 16700 177th Avenue S.E. Post Office Box 514Monroe, WA 98272-0514 (360) 794-2200
The Monroe Correctional Complex (MCC) is comprised of four separate Units, with a total population of 2,044 male inmates. Custody levels range from close to minimum.
MCC employs over 1,000 staff. Services provided by MCC include custody and security, classification, education, inmate work programs, health care (both inpatient and outpatient), mental health care, food service, maintenance, personnel, social responsibility programs, recreation, library and law library, volunteer services, and visiting/extended family visiting. OCO Accounting is also housed at MCC.
Volunteer Program: An extensive volunteer program involves over 900 individuals from the community. This very active program encourages supervised interaction between responsible citizens and inmates. It establishes community resources and enhances public awareness of the corrections mission. These groups focus on religious, cultural and personal accountability themes.
Education: To prepare inmates for successful re-entry into the community, education and work programs are strongly emphasized. Inmates under 22 years of age without a high school diploma or GED are required to attend educational classes which are provided by Edmonds Community College.
Work programs include three levels of jobs at MCC.
Class III jobs provide essential services to the facility such as maintenance, janitorial, clerical, and kitchen work.
Class II jobs are designed to reduce the cost of goods and services to state agencies and other tax-supported entities. These include laundry services, a print shop, a license tab shop, and the dairy farm.
Recreation: Recreation is also considered a critical aspect for the prison population. Basics such as a gymnasium, ball field, and a running track are available to help the inmates maintain good health and encourage appropriate use of leisure time. Additional optional programs are available for a monthly fee.
Washington State Reformatory Unit - WSRU
Population: 700
Custody: Close or lower
The Washington State Reformatory opened in 1910. WSRU accepts inmates with "close" custody or lower. Inmates are housed in two large cellblocks that are the prominent focal point of this historical building. A Segregation unit provides 80 beds for inmates who need to be temporarily removed from the general population. WSRU has an inpatient hospital that can also be utilized by other correctional facilities within the state.
Vocational classes offered at WSRU include welding, printing, information technology and personal computer support specialist. A staff-supervised Youth Program is offered to high school and middle school students; the only community program of this type in the state. It is designed to deter students from becoming involved in a criminal lifestyle by meeting selected inmates who tell them about the choices they made which led to their incarceration.
Twin Rivers Corrections Unit - TRU
Population: 800
Custody: Medium or lower
TRU opened in 1984. There are four living units which house approximately 200 inmates each. The DOC Sex Offender Treatment Program (SOTP) is located here. The sex offender program is one of the largest programs of its kind in the nation and is part of DOC's commitment to providing treatment for sex offenders. Any adult male sex offender in a DOC prison may volunteer for the program which treats 200 offenders at a time. Offenders enter treatment when they are within 18 months of release and are expected to continue receiving treatment in the community for up to three years after release. They also provide a 12-week Intensive Outpatient Chemical Dependency Program, which consists of Moral Recognition Therapy (MRT).
Vocational classes offered at TRU include computer service repair, interactive media, and information technology.
Minimum Security Unit (MSU)
Population: 400
Custody: Minimum
MSU opened in 1997. There are four 100-bed living units. MSU accepts selected short-term inmates with minimum custody. One unit is designated as the intake/admissions unit. A short-term chemical dependency program is located in a second living unit providing relapse preventative treatment to community custody violators. MSU also provides a 12-week Intensive Outpatient Chemical Dependency Program, which consists of Moral Recognition Therapy (MRT).
Some minimum security inmates work on supervised community work crews providing manual labor such as landscaping, painting, and highway cleanup. MSU inmates also work at the dairy farm, on grounds crews outside the security perimeter in the other MCC units, and with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) assisting in forestry projects which include tree planting and firefighting. MSU offers vocational training in information technology.
Special Offender Unit (SOU)
Population: 144
Custody: Close or lower
The Special Offender Unit opened in 1981 and accepts inmates who have mental health issues. It consists of four living/treatment units, each with 36 single bed cells. Each unit provides a specific treatment function: 1) admission for evaluation and brief therapy; 2) long term treatment for chronically mentally ill; 3) intensive treatment for segregated inmates needing mental health treatment; and 4) transition/life skills programs for inmates nearing release or being transferred to another facility.
Medical, mental health and custody staff work together to provide around-the-clock services on the living units. Group and recreation rooms are located on each living unit.
SOU has a horticulture program.
SKAGIT COUNTY:
Mount Vernon Office (360)428-1443707 South 2nd Street Mount Vernon, WA 98273
WHATCOM COUNTY:
Bellingham Field Office (360)676-21101111 Cornwall Avenue, #200 Bellingham, WA 98225-5039
Bellingham Work Release (360)676-21501127 North Garden Street Bellingham, WA 98225
ISLAND COUNTIES:
Oak Harbor Office (360)675-9031499 NE Midway Blvd, Ste 1Oak Harbor, WA 98277
CLALLAM COUNTY:
Clallam Bay Corrections Center 1830 Eagle Crest Way Clallam Bay, WA 98326-9723 (360)963-2000
Clallam Bay Corrections Center is situated on the Olympic Peninsula in Clallam County, two miles south of the community of Clallam Bay.
The facility provides medium, close , and maximum custody housing for inmates who are serving sentences for crimes committed in Washington State. Currently, 76.1 % of Clallam Bay's offenders were convicted of violent offenses, the average age is 30.2 years and average length of stay in the facility is 23 months.
There are 400 full time professional corrections employees at Clallam Bay. Five correctional industries staff members manage the on-site chair industry. Thirty members of the staff and faculty from Peninsula College serve at the facility providing adult offender education and staff training programs. Eleven members of the staff and faculty from the Cape Flattery school district serves at the facility providing education services for he youthful offender program.
ADULT - EDUCATION/WORK/TRAINING
Basic education and job readiness are the core of our adult education program, with the majority of the classes in GED preparation, adult basic education, English as a second language, certified vocational programs; and anger management. Also offered for 18-25 year olds with less than 5 years to serve, is a grant funded vocational transition program. Institution jobs include food services, physical plant, laundry, correctional industries and janitorial.
YOUTHFUL OFFENDER PROGRAM
The youthful offender program currently houses 96 inmates, three of which are sentenced to life without parole. Inmates attend education classes by subject, with individualized materials. Classes consist of math, language arts, social studies, science, and physical education. A special education instructor is a part of the education program. Self-help and volunteer programs offered include reasoning and rehabilitation, chemical dependency, moral reconation therapy, alcoholic's anonymous, narcotics anonymous, Protestant, Catholic, and Native American religious services, and bible study.
Port Angeles Office (360) 457-2587 228 West First Street, Suite R Port Angeles, WA 98362
JEFFERSON COUNTY:
Olympic Corrections Center 11235 Hoh Mainline Forks, WA 98331 (360)374-6181
Facility Description:Olympic Corrections Center has three living units located approximately one-quarter mile apart.
Work Experience:Almost half of the offenders at this facility are involved in full-time work with the Department of Natural Resources. Other work programs include kitchen, janitorial, camp maintenance, litter pick-up, and waste treatment operator. Educational programs are provided by Peninsula College.
HISTORY OF OLYMPIC CORRECTIONS CENTER
Forestry-oriented facilities (honor camps) using inmates as laborers were authorized in 1943 by the Washington State Legislature. In 1955, the Department of Natural Resources began using honor camp inmates at Yacolt to reforest and build roads in the Yacolt Burn. A year later, in 1956, the first honor camp on the Olympic Peninsula was developed near Clallam Bay.
The buildings were made of wood and mounted on skids. One of these buildings is still being used at Olympic Corrections Center. The Clallam Bay Honor Camp was relocated in 1968 and became the Clearwater Corrections Center.
In June 1969 Governor Dan Evans officially dedicated the camp.
The facility is located in the middle of a 120,000 acre block of DNR trust land, 27 miles southeast of Forks. The camp was closed in 1973 because of the economy. It reopened in September 1976 and closed again in January 1986. In January 1981 Olympic Corrections Center was opened with a designed capacity of 108 inmates.
Clearwater and Olympic Corrections Centers were two separate facilities with one administration. The majority of inmates of both facilities were assigned to perform forest management work and fire fighting for the Department of Natural Resources.
When Clearwater Corrections Center was closed in January 1986, some staff and inmates were transferred to the newly opened Clallam Bay Corrections Center. The remaining staff and inmates moved to Olympic Corrections Center increasing that population to 138.
In July 1987, Clearwater Corrections Center reopened housing approximately 100 inmates who were primarily assigned to forestry crews of Department of Natural Resources.
In July 1991, Clearwater and Olympic Corrections Center became one facility with the addition of another unit, the Hoh unit. At this time the facility became Olympic Corrections Center.
Population capacity for Olympic Corrections Center then became 350 with 170 designated to be assigned to forestry crews of Department of Natural Resources.
The DNR forestry crews perform various forestry functions, such as pre-commercial thinning and tree planting in the Olympic Region of DNR. The crews are available to fight forest fires throughout the state. The crews also perform duties for other government agencies such as Department of Ecology.
In addition to the DNR forestry crews, OCC also provides four crews for community service projects. They are supervised by correctional officers who take them out of the facility to perform a variety of jobs in the community such as litter pick up for Department of Transportation and the Olympic National Park. They assist the U.S. Forest Service restoring campgrounds, litter pick up on the beaches at for the Quilayute Tribe, painting school buildings during the summer, assisting the Forks Timber Museum and Visitor Center with grounds maintenance, etc.
Port Hadlock Office (360)379-503211696 Rhody DriveChimacum, WA 983259
West Central Region
Total Staff: 1,650Prison Facilities: 2 - MICC, WCCWPre-Releases: 1 - Tacoma Work Releases: 7 - Bishop-Lewis, Ratcliff, Madison, Reynolds, Lincoln Park, Progress House, RAP HouseCJC: 1 - Tacoma (Another planned in Seattle, but not open yet)Field Offices: 31Outstations: 9
KING COUNTY:
Auburn Office (253) 931-3965420 East Main Street Auburn, WA 98002
Bellevue Office (425)649-433123 - 148th S.E. Bellevue, WA 98007
Burien Office (206) 439-3760 P.O. Box 66768 Seattle, WA 98166
Capitol Hill Office (206) 720-30331818 E. Madison, MS TB-42 Seattle, WA 98122
Downtown Seattle Unit (206) 269-21002601 4th Avenue, 3rd Floor Seattle, WA 98121-1253
Federal Way Office (253) 941-71051025 So. 320th, Suite 101 Federal Way, WA 98003
Kent Field Office (253) 395-0837 606 W Gowe Street Kent, WA 98032
Kent Intake Unit (253) 372-3780 1851 Central Place S., Suite 101 Kent, WA 98030
Kent Regional Justice Center (206) 296-1234 401 4th Ave. NorthKent, WA 98032
MIST (206) 760-2367Mobile Intervention Supervision Team 3600 S. Graham St.Seattle, WA 98118
Northgate Office (206) 729-33269620 Stone Avenue N. #102 Seattle, WA 98103
Offender Minimum Management Unit (206) 287-41501417 4th Avenue, Suite 600 Seattle, WA 98101-2201
Presentence Unit 1 (206) 269-21002401 4th Avenue, 6th Floor Seattle, WA 98121-1435
Presentence Unit 2 (206) 269-21002401 4th Avenue, 6th Floor Seattle, WA 98121-1435
Renton Office (425) 277-72021107 SW Grady Way, Suite 101 Renton, WA 98055
Seattle Day Reporting Center (206) 956-31752601 4th Avenue, 3rd Floor Seattle, WA 98121
Seattle Transition & Resource Team 2601 4th Avenue, 3rd Floor Seattle, WA 98121-1253
Seattle Warrants Unit 2401 4th Avenue, 6th Floor Seattle, WA 98121
Fugitive/Absconder Unit 2401 4th Avenue, 6th Floor Seattle, WA 98121
Sex Offender Supervision Unit (206) 269-21002401 4th Ave, 6th FloorSeattle, WA 98121-1438
Southeast Seattle Unit (206) 720-3128851 Poplar Place South Seattle, WA 98144
Special Needs Unit (206) 269-21002401 4th Ave, 6th FloorSeattle, WA 98121-1438
West Seattle Unit (206) 933-24026335 35th Avenue S.W. Seattle, WA 98126
Bishop Lewis House (206) 464-7000703 8th Avenue Seattle, WA 98104
CAPACITY: 69
Bishop Lewis Work Release is a sixty-nine bed male facility that houses state offenders, county offenders, community corrections violators, and other offenders sanctioned by Department of Corrections hearing officers. The primary goal is developing a transition plan for offenders releasing to the community while at the same time mitigating risks of further criminal behavior through monitoring, limiting access to the community, holding accountable through disciplinary actions, and encouraging pro-social employment or other activities.
WORK PROGRAMS
Bishop Lewis Work Release requires all offenders to obtain employment within the community. Pioneer Industries provides training and employment opportunities for Bishop Lewis residents.
TREATMENT AND SELF HELP PROGRAMS
The facility offers offenders courses in anger stress management, life skills and resume writing in order to assist in their transition back to society. Other self-help courses available are Moral Reconition Therapy, and Vocational Assistance Education Programs. The facility further offers a limited program in chemical dependency treatment. The work release contractor, Pioneer Human Services, offers Employment Plus, a program that helps offenders prepare for employment when they first arrive.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Alcoholic's Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are available through community resources. A transition group is in the development phases, which will encourage community involvement
Madison Inn Work Release (206) 720-3013102 21st Avenue East Seattle, WA 98112
CAPACITY: 28
Madison Recovery House is located in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. Madison is a three-story facility with resident rooms located on the first and second floors. Rooms are double, triple, or quadruple occupancy. There is a full basement with laundry facilities, some weight equipment and a television. Madison Recovery House became a therapeutic community for chemically dependent offenders in January 2001. In February 2001, on-site programming was increased to a minimum of one program per day, every day of the week except Sunday. The Department of Social and Health Services Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse have certified Madison Recovery House as a chemical dependency recovery facility.
WORK PROGRAMS
Residents have a large variety of opportunities for employment in the King County area. Referrals for employment assistance are also available through various programs in Seattle such as New Connections, United Indians of All Tribes, Veterans Affairs and State Employment Security Services. Special work clothing, tools and transportation costs are also available through some of the above listed programs. There is a bulletin board in the facility that lists current job opportunities and the daily newspaper is delivered.
TREATMENT AND SELF HELP PROGRAMS
Madison Recovery House provides a uniquely intensive and supportive recovering environment for offenders to continue their treatment program. In addition to Recovery House services, Pioneer Human Services makes facility residents a priority to access their drug-free workplaces, offender counseling services, employment, and recovery residences and transitional housing. Madison Recovery House is the second link in a comprehensive treatment program designed by the University of Delaware's Center for Drugs and Alcohol Studies that was adopted by the Washington State Department of Corrections. A Chemical Dependency Counselor is available on site four days a week to complete assessments and provide follow-up treatment for residents. Other programs include Alcoholic's Anonymous, Drug Awareness, Family Group, Moral Reconation Therapy, and Integrity Process Group meetings.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Residents are encouraged to participate in treatment programs in the community. Parenting classes, victim awareness and anger/stress management classes may also be arranged in the community by staff on an as needed basis. For those residents who have limited social outing options with family or friends, there are staff sponsored outings.
Helen B. Ratcliff House/Work Release (206)720-30051531 13th Avenue South Seattle, WA 98144
CAPACITY: 47
Helen B. Ratcliff Work Release was named in honor of Helen B. Ratcliff for her work in the criminal justice system and opened June 17, 1988. It is an all-female work release program located in Seattle, Washington. The Ratcliff family owns the house and the Department of Corrections in conjunction with Pioneer Human Services who provides custody services for the facility.
The building is designed to meet the needs of its residents and their children. It is located on Beacon Hill within walking distance of a bank and store. The site location allows easy access to employment, medical facilities, treatment providers and transportation services. The capacity of the facility is forty-seven beds. Twenty-two beds are reserved for King County offenders, twenty-two beds house state work release residents, one bed houses a pre-release cook and two rooms are specially set up for women who are involved in the Residential Parenting Program. Offenders who have committed sex offenses or present a risk to children do not qualify to be placed at Helen B. Ratcliff Work Release. The maximum length of stay for state offenders is six months.
WORK PROGRAMS
Upon arriving at Helen B. Ratcliff Work Release, residents have two weeks to find employment. The Seattle area affords a wide range of jobs and the resident counselor and the community corrections officers help residents in their job searches.
TREATMENT AND SELF HELP PROGRAMS
The Work Release program encourages the development of life skills, and the goal of the program is successful transition of residents back to the community. Programs that are offered include employment development, parenting and self esteem classes, group and individual counseling, child visitation program, mother/baby program, assessment and case management.
Reynolds Work/Training Release (206) 464-6320410 4th Avenue Seattle, WA 98104
CAPACITY: 99 -- 77 male, 22 female
The Reynolds Work Release Second Chance program is located in the historical downtown Seattle, Washington area. The King County Courthouse and King County Jail are both within close proximity. Reynolds Work Release is a 99-bed residential facility located in Pioneer Square. Built in the early 1910's, this six story brick building hotel was converted for use as a Department of Corrections work release program in 1978 for 45 state offenders. Today the facility serves 99 male and female offenders and is under a major renovation program. The main purpose of the program is to assist residents with a successful transition back to the community. The convenient downtown Seattle location assists offenders in gaining meaningful employment, offers close public transportation to and from work sites, and provides a variety of community treatment services.
WORK PROGRAMS
Residents are referred to work, training or other community programs.
TREATMENT AND SELF HELP PROGRAMS
Reynolds Work Release offers in-house programs addressing chemical dependency issues, anger/stress management, life skills, Moral Reconation Therapy, and parenting classes.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Various treatment programs are available in the community. Staff outings in the community include cultural tours, sporting events and library visits. There is an active volunteer program and resident council.
PIERCE COUNTY:
Pierce County Community Justice Center (253) 680-26001016 South 28th Street Tacoma, WA 98409
McNeil Island Corrections Center 1403 Commercial Street Post Office Box 88900 Steilacoom, WA 98388-0900 (253)588-5281
Capacity: 908
History:
Located 2.8 miles from Steilacoom, Washington in southern Puget Sound, McNeil Island has a long and interesting history. The island was named in 1841 after William Henry McNeill, boat captain for the Hudson Bay Company. Captain McNeill was well known in the Puget Sound region, and is credited for discovering Victoria and Esquimalt Harbors, as well as founding Victoria, British Columbia.
In 1853, pioneer Ezra Meeker homesteaded on the site where the Main Institution is located today. Meeker lived on McNeil Island only for a couple years. The land was subsequently sold several times to different individuals, until September 17, 1870 when the Federal government purchased the 27.27 acres for $100.00 to build a territorial prison. The McNeil Island site was selected, not because it was an escape deterrent, but because it was accessible by boat - the easiest mode of transportation at the time.
On May 28, 1875, the territorial prison opened on McNeil Island. The first inmate admitted was Abraham Gervais - sentenced to 20 months for selling alcohol to Native Americans. By the end of 1875, the total prison population consisted of nine inmates and a guard force of two. The original cell house had 48 double cells with no running water, plumbing, electricity or adequate heating. Conditions were as difficult for the staff as they were for the inmates.
Construction began on the second cell house in 1907 and was completed in 1911. One of the first inmates to be housed in the newly built cell house was Robert Stroud, known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz." Stroud arrived at McNeil Island in 1909. After attacking and stabbing an inmate orderly in November 1911, he was transferred to Leavenworth, Kansas on September 5, 1912.
During the 1920's and 30's the United States Penitentiary at McNeil Island experienced a large building expansion by constructing additional cell houses, an administration building, auditorium, hospital, kitchen and dining hall. In 1933, the Federal Farm Camp (known today as the Special Commitment Center) was constructed for 200 inmates.
McNeil Island was populated by homesteaders during the late 1800's. At one point during the early 1900's there were two post offices and thriving communities around the Island. The federal government began purchasing land from the homesteaders to expand prison operations. The homesteaders were forced to move off the Island in 1937, when the entire Island was purchased and under federal control.
In the late 1970's, the decision was made by the federal government to close the United States Penitentiary. The State of Washington, in need of more inmate bed space, negotiated to take over the prison. In 1981 it was transferred from a federal institution to the Washington State Department of Corrections and became known as McNeil Island Corrections Center.
McNeil Island Corrections Center has the distinction of being the only prison in the United States that started out as a territorial prison, became a federal penitentiary and finally became a state corrections center. It is also the last prison in North America located on an island accessible only by boat (or helicopter).
Facility Description
McNeil Island Corrections Center is reached by a 20-minute boat ride on one of the institution's passenger vessels. The Main Institution is located on approximately 89 acres and is within walking distance of the island passenger dock.
McNeil Island Corrections Center consists of the Main Institution, which is a medium-custody facility located on the southeast side of the island.
McNeil Island Corrections Center's Main Institution has five 256-bed medium-custody living units and a 129-bed segregation unit. There is also an inmate services building that houses education, recreation, medical and mental health services, and a vocational education building.
Also located on McNeil Island is the Special Commitment Center, which is operated under the control and direction of the Department of Social and Health Services.
Work Experience
McNeil Island Corrections Center is a work-oriented institution and has 222 Class II Industries positions and approximately 900 additional jobs throughout the institution and island. These positions include food service workers, maintenance workers, fire crew, barbers, recreation aides, teacher's aides, library assistants, laundry workers, clerks, janitors, carpenters, painters, welders, plumbers, electricians, and steamfitters.
Community Involvement:
MICC is committed to building partnerships with the community by participating in community projects, events, and education. Some of the ongoing partnerships/ projects include: Angel Bear Program, Bicycle Project, Chambers of Commerce, Clothing Donations, Community Advisory Board, Community Tours, Giving Tree Project, Hats and Scarves Program, Read to Me Daddy Program, Toys for Tots Project, and other projects.
Additionally, there are over 700 volunteers who volunteer their time and expertise, providing a variety of quality programs and services such as religious, self-help, 12-step, recreation, and educational programs.
Washington Corrections Center For Women 9601 Bujacich Road NW Gig Harbor, WA 98332-8300(253)858-4200
In the fall election of 1966, the voters of Washington State approved a new, separate women's correctional institution. Prior to that time, female felons were housed in an annex at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. Construction of the new women's institution was completed in early 1971 on a wood tract of state-owned land in northwest Pierce County. Ninety-two women were transferred to the Purdy Treatment Center, which is now Washington Corrections Center for Women, housing all adult women who are sentenced to Washington State Department of Corrections. Today, the facility houses Maximum, Close, Medium, and Minimum custody inmates.
CLOSE CUSTODY/RECEPTION UNIT
The Close Custody Unit is a dual-purpose unit. Inmates that have already been classified to "Close" custody occupy the west pod. Inmates are classified to close custody for a higher level of supervision due to the nature of their offense, the length of their sentence or because of infraction behaviors that resulted in a custody level demotion. Inmates residing in the East pod are from the county jails, having been convicted or a felony offense and committed by a Superior Court to Department of Corrections for sentence in excess of one year (12 months + 1 day).
RECEPTION PROCESSING Female offenders that are committed to the Department of Corrections for a sentence in excess of twelve months one day for a felony offense are housed in the Reception Unit. During this time, information is gathered to determine the inmate's custody level and programming needs. Initial classification takes three to six weeks to complete.
MEDIUM SEUCURITY UNIT
Washington Corrections Center for Women Medium Security Unit is a multipurpose living unit. It houses both long-term and transition inmates. Inmates that have already been classified to "Medium" custody make up the bulk of the unit's population. Additionally, long-term minimum custody (MI3) and those inmates waiting additional processing (custody demotions/ promotions) are also housed in the unit. Each Medium Unit Pod consists of 64 2-person cells, for a total of 128 cells in the unit. Each cell is a "dry" cell. Showers, toilets and sinks are located at the end of each tier. Additionally , four cells in A-Pod have been set aside for the Prison Pet Partnership Program. This allows to the in-unit training of working dogs that will later be turned over to disabled individuals. The majority of the inmates living in Medium Security Unit work at a Class III prison industry. Those offenders that show the aptitude and motivation may be selected for assignment to one of the class I, II and IV jobs.
MINIMUM CUSTODY COMPOUND
Offenders housed in Minimum Security Facility have an opportunity to participate in programming and work programs with progressively higher levels of responsibility and privileges based on demonstrated self-management and maintaining their minimum custody designation. Their current behavior and history reflects a low risk of flight. Adult Basic Education classes are required programming for inmates that have not passed the required proficiency tests. A Minimum-Security Facility inmate usually starts working in Class III industries, jobs that involve food service, maintenance helpers, janitorial and grounds keeping. Offenders can also be selected to work in Class IV, Community Service Crews jobs.
TREATMENT AND EVALUATION CENTER
The Treatment and Evaluation Center provides in-patient long term care for mentally ill offenders unable to function in general population. Our role in the Treatment and Evaluation Center is to stabilize and transition offenders to a less restrictive environment. The Treatment and Evaluation Center also provides short-term crisis intervention, which involves therapy and/or placement in specialized housing (usually an infirmary or close observation area).
EDUCATION Tacoma Community College contracts with Washington Corrections Center for Women to provide educational services to inmates. The school operates on the open entry/exit system, focusing primarily on preparing students to pass the GED examination and raising the level of functioning for low scoring offenders. Adult Basic Education and GED programs are available for offenders who do not have a high school education. Vocational programs, parenting classes, and life skills focused on reducing crime-related behavior are also offered.
THE BRAILLE PROJECT
The Braille Program at the Washington Corrections Center for Women began in November 1996. A South Kitsap High School vision project initiated the original structuring of the Braille Program utilizing grant funds made available by US West Telecommunications Company. Within six months, Washington Corrections Center for Women entered into the contract with the Washington State School for the Blind/Braille Access Center. Offenders are handpicked in Braille Translation computer software. Documents are formatted by inmates and sent to the Braille Access in Vancouver, Washington for final edit and proofing. All materials are professionally transcribed and proofread. Materials are scanned, keyed in, saved to a disk, and embossed at the Braille Access Center. Each transcriber is required to learn and read and write Braille and is Washington State Certified to transcribe Braille. The Braille Project has been acknowledge for its service by Governor Gary Locke in his 1998 Governing for Results booklet
CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY
Pierce County Alliance, a community treatment program, has contacted with the Department of Corrections to provide chemical dependency treatment for the Washington Corrections Center for Women offenders. Chemical dependency services offered are chemical Dependency evaluation, six-week and 12-week outpatient programs, Moral Reconation Therapy and weekly and monthly continuing care groups.
RESIDENTIAL PARENTING PROGRAM
The Residential Parenting Program at Washington Corrections Center for Women is a collaborative effort between the Puget Sound Educational Service District and the Department of Corrections. There are several other nursery programs in the country, but this one is unique because it is the only one with an Early Head Start component. The program is designed to allow selected pregnant, Minimum custody inmates who give birth during their incarceration, to return to the institution with their infants where they will reside in a designated unit. The inmate mothers will be accountable for the 24-hour care of their children while living in a supervised environment. The Early Head Start Child Development Center will provide education and role modeling for effective parenting as well as enriched environment for the children to grow. The rationale behind the program is to promote mother-child bonding and attachment that research has shown is essential to healthy, intellectual, social and psychological development.
RELIGIOUS SERVICES CENTER
The full-time Chaplain coordinates all of Washington Correction Center for Women's religious services. Chaplains from Catholic, Native American, and Muslim faiths also work to meet the needs of various groups. Hundreds of volunteers provide religious activities offered each week. Volunteers are encouraged to participate and are always welcome. Community businesses, Bates Vocational College, and volunteers raised funds for and built Washington Corrections Center for Women's religious services center. For information on volunteering contact the Community Involvement Program Coordinator at (253) 858-4652.
HEALTH SERVICES UNIT
The Health Services Unit provides basic health care including inpatient, outpatient, dental, and mental health services. The Unit is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. It is overseen by a Health Care Manager, who is responsible for the clinic as well as the Mental Health Department and in an oversight capacity for the Chemical Dependency Department. Washington Corrections Center for Women's Health Services Department relies on a strong relationship with community partners that provide specialized services both on and off site. Contract providers that see patients on site are utilized in many areas of health services.
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
Over 600 community volunteers serve the Washington Correction Center for Women in many capacities including academic internships, chemical dependency counseling, transition planning, tutoring, creative writing, diversity awareness, HIV/AIDS education, speech classes, theatrical movement, meditation, and staff aids. Nationally knows groups such as Toastmasters International, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and also provide volunteer services. Another program offered by Washington Corrections Center for Women in collaboration with the Girl Scout Totem Council of Seattle and the Pacific Peaks Council in Tacoma, is the Girl Scout Behind Bars program. The motto of this program is "Bridging the gap and program meets approximately once per month where inmate mothers act as leaders to provide craft and educational projects for their daughters". The visits provide an important link in the bonding process between mother and daughter during the incarceration period.
PRISON PET PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
Another Class IV Industries program is the Prison Pet Partnership Program. The Prison Pet Partnership Program is an innovative approach to the rehabilitation of inmates. Started as a cooperative venture among Washington State University, Tacoma Community College, and the Washington State Department of Corrections, the program teaches inmates marketable job skills in the pet care industry. The inmates work toward Pet Care Technician certification and may also obtain Companion Animal Hygienist certification. The program also utilizes both paid and volunteer inmate dog handlers who train service dogs for physically impaired people. Inmates are responsible 24 hours a day for dogs assigned to them for care and training.
Tacoma Pre-Release PO Box 881038 Steilacoom, WA 98388 (253) 761-7610
CAPACITY: 140 Female Offenders
Tacoma Pre-Release is a total confinement female facility located on the grounds of Western State Hospital in Lakewood, Washington. The facility houses 140 female offenders. Each room is approximately 150 square feet, and all rooms have private bathrooms. Offenders are not allowed off hospital grounds unless under staff escort or actively participating in either Correctional Industries or Pioneer Industries jobs. Offenders are eligible to transfer to Tacoma Pre-Release from the Washington Corrections Center for Women when they are within 24 months of their release date. Tacoma Pre-Release also accepts community custody violators, reinstated parolees, offenders under the Offender Accountability Act, and offenders who were not successful in work release.
WORK PROGRAMS
Tacoma Pre-Release is a unique facility in that some offenders provide labor for the Western State Hospital kitchen, which offsets costs to the facility. Offenders also are required to work, program, or a combination of both, at least thirty-two hours per week.
TREATMENT AND SELF HELP PROGRAMS
Tacoma Pre-Release has contracts with Corrections Clearinghouse to provide classes in how to obtain employment, job readiness, and resume writing. Corrections Clearinghouse also works with offenders in obtaining driver's licenses, Washington State identifications, and social security cards. Pierce College provides a Life-Skills program, Adult Basic Education, Basic Computers, and General Equivalency Diploma Preparation and testing. They also provide offender change programs to include victim awareness, anger/stress management, and vocational opportunity training education. Women's issues classes are offered that are designed specifically to the needs of female offenders. The facility has an in-house, eight-week, intensive outpatient chemical dependency program. A chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous is located on site. Tacoma Pre-Release also offers three classes per week of Moral Reconition Therapy.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Tacoma Pre-release offenders provide various services to the community. Recent volunteer projects have included "Paint Tacoma Beautiful" and making and donating over 400 garments and blankets for shelters in Pierce County. They also assist the community during times of natural and other disasters. Offenders can participate in local speak-outs at high schools, Pierce College and church groups.
Lakewood Office (253) 589-700010109 South Tacoma Way Bldg C4 Tacoma, WA 98499
Lakewood OMMU (253) 589-705010918 Bridgeport Way SW Tacoma, WA 98499
McKinley COPS Outstation (253)207-47183524 E. McKinley AveTacoma, WA 98404
Parkland South Office (253) 589-700010109 South Tacoma Way Bldg C4 Tacoma, WA 98499
Puyallup Office (253) 840-4664405 West Stewart Avenue Suite B Puyallup, WA 98371
Special Needs Unit (253) 471-4542917 Pacific Avenue South #207 Tacoma, WA 98402
Tacoma Office, Unit 1 (253) 593-2550755 Tacoma Avenue South Tacoma, WA 98402
Tacoma Office, Unit 2 (253) 593-2550755 Tacoma Avenue South Tacoma, WA 98402
University Place Outstation (253) 589-70911909 70th Ave W.University Place, WA 98466
Lincoln Park Work/Training Release (253) 471-45483706 South Yakima Tacoma, WA 98408
CAPACITY: Lincoln 30 Rap 20
Rap House and Lincoln Park Work Release Programs are specialized, coed programs, designed to assist convicted adult felons who are currently incarcerated in a state correctional facility, ordered to work release/partial confinement by a Superior Court; paroled to Rap/Lincoln by the Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board; or ordered by the Department of Corrections for special reasons. Rap House is designed to assist developmentally disabled offenders and Lincoln Park is designed to assist mentally ill offenders. The State of Washington operates the program in partnership with Allvest Inc., a private rehabilitative corporation.
WORK PROGRAMS
Residents are required to seek employment based on their capabilities. This may be a sheltered workshop setting. If unable to participate in employment or training due to their disability, the program will facilitate further community care placement such as congregate care facilities. Both programs utilize community resources that include the Division of Vocational Rehabilitaion, Division of Developmental Disabilities, Division of Mental Health, Tacoma Community House Urban League, Corrections Clearinghouse and others.
TREATMENT AND SELF HELP PROGRAMS
Both programs train residents in self-medication responsibilities. Staff monitor medication, however, the resident is responsible for learning and demonstrating competency regarding medication times and dosage. Both programs have mental health groups, which are facilitated by community professionals. Each resident is expected to participate in one therapy group per week, within their respective facility. A therapist is available for limited individual counseling. The supervising Community Corrections Officer may also link the resident with appropriate community counseling resources.
Progress House Work/Training Release (253) 593-28445601 6th Avenue (253) 593-2844Tacoma, WA 98406
CAPACITY: 69 male and 6 female offenders
Progress House Work Release is a community residential facility providing residents the opportunity to live in the community under Department of Corrections supervision, learn to utilize community treatment resources, work, attend school, and obtain job training while completing the last months of their sentence. The west Tacoma site provides easy access to employment, treatment providers and transportation services. The overall goal of the program is to assist offenders within six months from their release dates to improve work ethic and skills, assist in stabilizing economic status, and address identified need areas without presenting an unreasonable risk to the community.
WORK PROGRAMS
All residents find and maintain employment once at Progress House in order to remain eligible for the program.
TREATMENT AND SELF HELP PROGRAMS
For residents who attend school, room and board must be paid in advance. In-house programs consist of chemical dependency, Alcoholic's Anonymous, Narcotic's Anonymous, Moral Reconation Therapy and religious services. Community corrections officers work with residents to engage community services appropriate to individual and criminogenic needs.
Rap House Work/Training Release (253) 471-45463704 South Yakima Tacoma, WA 98408
see Lincoln Park Work/Training Release description
Southwest Region
Total Staff: 1,738Prison Facilities: 4 - CCCC, LCC, SCCC, WCCWork Releases: 3 - Clark County, Longview, OlympiaField Offices: 19
GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY:
Montesano Office (360)533-9276219 Pioneer Avenue East Montesano, WA 9856
Stafford Creek Corrections Cnter 191 Constantine WayAberdeen, WA 98520 (360)537-1800
The Stafford Creek Corrections Center (SCCC) is located five miles west of Aberdeen, Washington in Grays Harbor County. With a location minutes away from the ocean beaches and an hour from Olympia, the surrounding communities allow for many cultural and recreational opportunities. The 1936 bed multi-custody facility is on a 210-acre site. The construction started July 1998 at an estimated total cost of $194 million. The facility opened on April 3, 2000.
There are seven living units for medium and long-term minimum custody offenders and an intensive management unit for maximum custody offenders. Stafford Creek Corrections Center is Washington State's first tobacco free facility for both staff and offenders.
INSTITUTIONAL PROGRAMS
There are many programs offered to offenders. The programs are designed for several purposes. 1. Reduce risk to community. 2. Assist offenders with transition back to the community. 3. Address educational/vocational deficit. 4. Address crime related behaviors. 5. Teach pro-social skills to offenders.
EDUCATION
Grays Harbor College offers a variety of programs to offenders. In cooperation with DOC, the college assesses and places students into basic skills and vocational programs. Basic skills education includes: Adult Basic Education, English as a Second Language, Job Dynamics, Industrial Safety and Computer Basics. Vocational programming includes Building Maintenance.
RELIGION
The facility is committed to assisting offenders of all faiths in the observance of their religious beliefs and practices within correctional guidelines. Religious programs may include worship and study as appropriate to a religious group and/or special observances.
PARALLEL COMMUNITY
The Parallel Community is a correctional environment which reflects and demands the core values found in the community, holding offenders responsible and accountable for their actions and behavior. These include taking responsibility for their own programming and education, developing personal resumes and applying for jobs within the facility, maintaining their own schedules and being where they are supposed to be by virtue of their own action rather than explicit direction of correctional staff and maintaining good work and school evaluations in order to progress in job and education tracks. Offenders can promote to a higher level within the community (increased commissary spending limits, recreational activity participation, better paying job assignments and increased programming/educational opportunities) only if they demonstrate appropriate behavior and progress in programming, work and education.
VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers are a vital part of the SCCC team. Volunteer services are needed in a variety of programs including religious, 12-step programs, self-help, counseling and transitional groups. Volunteers will become mentors to offenders to assist them in following the philosophy of the Offender Accountability Act (OAA). In addition to regularly scheduled volunteer groups/services, there are numerous volunteers who participate in the recreation program (e.g., basketball, baseball, etc.), serve as education tutors and student interns and help in staff assistant positions.
WELLNESS/FITNESS
The purpose of the wellness/fitness program is to promote good health habits and positive use of leisure time. This is accomplished through a structured program involving physical fitness and wellness. A variety of activities are available in which offenders can participate. A "user" fee is charged to offenders who participate in the hobby, music and weight lifting programs. Intramural and varsity athletics teach offenders to be "team players" and allows opportunity to interact with positive role models from the community.
CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY TREATMENT
Offenders are assessed for substance abuse issues. If identified as chemically dependent, offenders participate in a chemical dependency orientation and go on through other offered programs to address their addiction. This will be a 9 - 12 month program to provide treatment to offenders with severe chemical dependency issues.
MORAL RECONATION TREATMENT (MRT)
MRT is a cognitive-behavior program designed to assist the offenders in analyzing their life, setting and achieving goals and making decisions at a higher level of moral reasoning. The goal of MRT is to reduce recidivism by increasing pro-social reasoning and behaviors.
CUSTODY
Correctional Officers Officers are responsible for the security of the facility by supervising offenders. They direct offender movement, supervise work details, conduct security inspections, count offenders and serve as positive role models to offenders. They are responsible to hold offenders accountable for their behavior, both positive and negative. Unit Management There are seven offender living units; each supervised by a Correctional Unit Supervisor. Other unit staff include Correctional Counselors, Correctional Sergeants and Correctional Officers who staff the units 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each living unit is operated under the direct supervision model. Unit Teams have management responsibility for offenders within the living unit, including individual program development, custody and program classification, adjudication of minor rule infractions, assistance with family and transitional issues and the management of other issues associated with basic daily living.
SERVICES
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
The Engineering Department provides the same services required by a small city. These services are provided by skilled craftsmen who instruct and train offenders in performing repairs in plumbing, machine repair, automotive repair, landscaping, road maintenance, carpentry and painting. The Engineering Department maintains all aspects of the facility's physical plant. Food Service Food service is responsible for feeding the offenders three meals a day. Food service is important as they impact the morale and well being of the entire facility.
HEALTH SERVICES
Health care services are available to all offenders and require a co-payment. Medical The health care program includes open sick call and clinical appointments throughout the week. Emergency services with nursing staff and inpatient services are provided 24 hours a day. Medical staffing includes a physician, mid-level practitioners, registered nurses, license practical nurses and an infectious disease control nurse and a pharmacist. Infirmary services are available for ill offenders.
MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health is staffed by psychologists and psychiatric social workers that provide mental health services. Services include: crisis intervention, suicide prevention, routine mental health screening, individual and group therapy, medication management, anger and stress management and psychological evaluation.
DENTAL
The dental clinic is staffed with a dentist, hygienist and dental assistants. Treatment is prioritized and focuses on rendering care, which relieves pain and prevents acute and chronic infectious conditions of the teeth and oral cavity.
MASON COUNTY:
Washington Corrections Center W 2321 Dayton Airport Road Post Office Box 900 Shelton, WA 98584 (360)426-4433
The Washington Corrections Center (WCC) is comprised of three distinct programs. These programs consist of the Reception Center, the Training Center and the Intensive Management Unit. Additionally, the Statewide Transportation Unit is located at the facility.
The Reception Center receives all male felons from the county jails, with the exception of offenders sentenced to the death penalty. Upon completion of the reception/diagnostic processes, offenders are classified and transferred to other facilities to serve their sentence. The Reception Center also serves as an in-transit facility for offenders being transferred from one facility to another. Because of the transitional nature of Reception Center offenders, work programs are limited.
The Training Center is comprised of medium custody offenders. They are assigned to the living units and are involved in work, education and/or vocation programs. Extensive work programs exist to assist in the operation of the facility including food service, maintenance, laundry, barber, clerical and janitorial support. Washington Corrections Center has also initiated the Lexan Restoration Project in collaboration with 3M Corporation. Lexan is used extensively throughout institutions and prisons as a safe alternative to glass products. This project will restore the clarity of Lexan for reuse and replacement as opposed to the purchase of new and expensive Lexan panels. In addition Training Center offenders receive extensive educational and vocational training through the Garret Heyns Educational Center in conjunction with Centralia College. Offenders can earn a high school or General Equivalency Diploma through the education program.
The Intensive Management Unit is one of four, within the Washington State Department of Corrections. It houses the most difficult to manage offenders and provides intervention and education programs to assist the offender to change inappropriate behavior patterns.
Shelton Field (Community Corrections) Office (360) 427-2150507 N. 4th Street, P.O. Box 1009 Shelton, WA 98584
KITSAP COUNTY:
Bremerton Office (360)478-49154970 Auto Center Way Bremerton, WA 98312
Port Orchard Office (360)876-76111014 Bay Street, Suite 11Port Orchard, WA 98366
Peninsula Work/Training Release (360) 895-61721340 Lloyd Parkway Port Orchard, WA 98366
CAPACITY: 60 Total: 54 men and 6 women.
FACILITY DESCRIPTION: Peninsula Work-Training Release is located in Kitsap County. It is a 60-bed facility with each room housing two offenders. All offenders are on minimum custody status. Our program is a five-level system. Advancement occurs via the Classification process and is determined by an objective evaluation of task accomplishments. Because of an agreement with Kitsap County, only offenders sentenced out of the Peninsula area (Kitsap, Mason, Clallam, or Jefferson) will be accepted at Peninsula Work Release. Exceptions are made for offenders who have family in the Peninsula area who they plan on releasing to.
WORK EXPERIENCE:
Offenders are required to work with staff in developing individual offender accountability plans. These plans are individualistic and address the personal needs of the offender. They include employment and educational expectations and goals while at work release and to their transition to the community. It is expected that the offenders program to their full potential.
GROUP ACTIVITIES:
Offenders are required to participate in some form of programming. This includes but is not limited to Moral Reconation Therapy, Life Skills, Drug/Alcohol Aftercare, Parenting, etc. Offenders will also be informed of no or low-cost referrals for treatment such as Anger Management, Grief Counseling which they can pursue through community resources.
THURSTON COUNTY:
Cedar Creek Corrections Center 12200 Bordeaux Road Post Office Box 37 Littlerock, WA 98556 (360)753-7278
Cedar Creek Corrections Center (CCCC) is a minimum custody (MI2) institution situated in the Capital Forrest approximately 23 miles Southwest of Olympia, near Littlerock, Washington.
CCCC maintains an average daily population of 400 male offenders, all over 18 years of age. Offenders must have four years or less remaining on their sentence to be eligible for transfer to this facility.
The Department of Corrections (DOC) leases its 38-acre site and buildings from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Through inter-agency agreement, the successful multi-functional partnership and co-location with DNR allows both agencies to share office space, warehouse space, and provides for vehicle and facility maintenance.
The facility has two living units, Cascade and Olympic, which accommodate 200 offenders respectively. The Alpine unit at CCCC accommodates an offender library, education department, victim awareness, and various other offender programs.
CCCC is considered a "work camp", therefore all offenders are required to work and/or program in preparation for re-entry to the community as productive citizens.
HISTORY
CCCC opened in 1954 under the Department of Institutions as a Forrest Youth Camp, housing juvenile male offenders. From its inception, CCCC's alignment with DNR has offered a unique partnership that continues in growth to this day.
CCCC's conversion from a juvenile facility to an adult minimum-security prison occurred in 1979, and the facility has expanded twice to meet a growing DOCpopulation.
SUSTAINABILITY
As a steward of public resources, Cedar Creek Corrections Center is committed to working for a sustainable facility. "Sustainability" as used in this context means protecting and managing resources to meet current needs without sacrificing the needs of future generations and natural systems.
Practices include, but are not limited to:
· Reducing dependence on non-renewable energy sources· Reducing potable water use· Reducing use of toxic materials· Reducing waste
Examples of sustainability already in motion:
· Utilization of hybrid vehicles· Abstinence from watering lawns and/or flowerbeds· Utilization of water meters for collection of water usage data· Identification and repair of breaches in water distribution system· Practicing cold water laundering· Maintaining water catchment systems· Recycling paper and aluminum products· Practicing duplex copying for all multi-page copying· Utilization of low water flow showerheads· Installation of low water flow toilet valves· Increased usage of organic foods through organic gardening· Composting of food waste, shredded paper, sawdust, grass, and weeds
OFFENDER WORK OPPORTUNITIES
Offenders are required to work 6.5 to 10 hours per day. Offenders must use earned wages to purchase personal hygiene supplies, writing materials, pay court costs and fines, victim/witness compensation, deductions, cost of incarceration, family support, and other personal items.
Offenders are required to pay participation fees for healthcare, recreation, and extended family visiting programs. Offenders may earn up to $55 per month, which assists in paying restitution to victims, local and state criminal justice agencies and providing support to families. Facility on-site support jobs include custodial, grounds keeping, food service, heavy equipment operations, laundry, mechanical, carpentry, welding, construction, warehouse, barber, clerks, and plant maintenance.
Correctional Industries: Offenders employed by Correctional Industries are paid in accordance to the Washington State Public Works Act, and prevailing wage laws. Those employed with Correctional Industries are mandated per Washington statute to pay a percentage of their earnings toward incarceration costs, victim/witness compensation, mandatory savings, taxes, and legal financial obligations.
Correctional Industries job(s) include office systems panel assembly and asbestos abatement.
Department of Natural Resources (DNR): DNR provides appropriate training to CCCC offenders assigned to their work crews, maintaining safe work environments. Approximately 180 offenders work on DNR work crews when the facility is at full capacity.
Work crews performed the following services over the last year to areas covering Alder Lake to the Southeast, Seaquest State Park to the South, Aberdeen to the West, Potlatch State Park and the Nisqually River to the North:
· Planted 2,000-2,700 acres with Douglas fir seedlings· Cut out competing vegetation on 2,000-2,500 acres of young tree plantations· Pre-commercial thinned 1,200-1,500 acres of Douglas fir plantations· Spent 90-150 days on wild-land fire suppression· Operated a fire kitchen capable of serving 100-1,400 fire fighters per meal· Maintained nearly 200 miles of Capitol Forest recreation trails· Maintained 18 DNR recreation sites· Pulled tansy from 150 miles of Capitol Forest roads· Constructed 15-20 gates for controlling forest road traffic· Constructed 400-500 state signs; fire control signs, etc. · Constructed approximately 100 carpentry projects; picnic tables, work centers, storage cabinets, bird boxes, etc.· Manufactured 25,000-30,000 board feet of lumber
Community Work Crews:Approximately 70 offenders are assigned to work crews providing non-profit services to the local community.
Community projects include but are not limited to:
· Assisting with maintenance of local fire districts and schools · Providing maintenance of Little League Ball fields · Assisting the Department of Transportation in cleaning transient areas and alongside highways· Provide clean-up and planting efforts for Mason County Conservation · Provide clean-up of buildings, sidewalks and structures for Washington State Department of General Administration · Preparation of community garden for the Kiwanis Club · Providing for other continuous requests for assistance and new projects.
Additional jobs allow 40 offenders to provide assistance to the two major correctional facilities of Stafford Creek and Washington Corrections Center. Services provided include operations of wastewater treatment plants, recycling centers, motor pools, warehouses, general maintenance and construction, janitorial and grounds work in outer perimeter areas, as well as other projects.
EDUCATION
Cedar Creek Corrections Center contracts with Pierce College to provide educational services. Instructors offer classes serving approximately 130 students per quarter. Classes are offered during the day, evenings, and on weekends so offenders can work full-time. Classes teach skills in reading writing, and math, and are designed to prepare offenders for onsite facility jobs, and their eventual return to the community. Courses offered include:
Adult Basic Education (ABE): Offenders are placed on the referral list for ABE if they are determined not to have a verified High School Diploma or General Education Development (GED) Certificate, and are not ready to test for the GED in at least two of three content areas (reading, writing and math). Classes are offered in continuous enrollment and are self-paced. Students are offered the opportunity to transition to the GED Preparation class quarterly.
General Education Development (GED):Prepares offenders to pass all portions of the GED test, which demonstrates a level of learning comparable to that of a high school graduate in specific curriculum areas. Individuals ready to test in at least two of three content areas are eligible for enrollment, classes are offered continuously and remain self-paced. Students have the opportunity to take GED test(s) monthly providing they have been enrolled in GED Preparation and are authorized by the instructor.
Read to Me Program:A child's success in school is directly effected by their parent's educational proficiency, leaving children of prison inmates at the highest-risk for growing up functionally illiterate.
This innovative program is intended to strengthen family ties and increase literacy among inmates. Offenders read donated books while being audiotaped; books and tapes are subsequently mailed to the specified child's guardian. Private donors provide all items for this program.
Job Hunter: Teaches job preparedness and skills necessary for workplace success including components such as industrial safety, job dynamics, computer basics, and self-management.
Job Hunter is a seven-module series used at local WorkSource offices to refine job seeker skills. Job Hunter is now the official curriculum of DOC, which means it's taught in all institutions. This series focuses on finding the right job, effective job search, awareness, and applications, resumes, interviews and more.
Corrections Clearinghouse has modified the standard Job Hunter curriculum to include an offender overlay. This overlay specifically addresses the barriers at-risk clients face. While enrolled in this class offenders increase employability skills in order to be more successful upon releasing to work release or the community.
M-2 Job Therapy:This program partners with Corrections Clearinghouse to assist offenders in transitioning back to the community. Offenders are required to examine and establish goals and plans, learn budgeting techniques, review cause and effect, exercise healthy choice, utilize down-time effectively, and re-establish themselves in the community.
Certification Programs:
DNR: In cooperation with Pierce College, offenders are offered the opportunity to validate their work experience at CCCC through Cooperative Work Experience Credit. Offenders may be granted certification/credit for Basic Forestry, Tree Planting, Tree Thinning, Lead Man, and Fire Fighting.
Food Service: The Food Service Department provides the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) training program, providing a certificate upon completion. This program and training imparts a wealth of knowledge in the food service department from proper food handling and safety procedures, to detailed sanitation measures. The Food Service Department also provides the opportunity for offenders to receive training in catering. All work experience and training provide needed skills for employment upon release.
Wastewater Treatment & Building Maintenance: The Wastewater Treatment Plant and Building Maintenance are full-time vocational skill programs, providing operator certification upon completion. Base level skills in reading and math meet the minimum qualification requirement; students must have counselor referral for enrollment in these programs.
Instruction is provided in various aspects of construction and building maintenance in order to prepare offenders for employment as general repair and maintenance laborers. The student learns fundamental concepts and instruction in safety, plumbing, carpentry, electrical, project tracking, janitorial, and AutoCAD applications.
HORTICULTURE & GARDENING PROGRAM
CCCC's Horticulture Program allows for full time employment of numerous inmates. The program produces flowers, plants, grasses, trees, and vegetables which are used at the facility and/or distributed to Community Corrections, other state facilities, and the community. Workers are taught to harvest, dry, label and package all seeds collected, providing for participation in seed exchange programs throughout the United States.
CCCC offenders maintain a greenhouse, three gardens, and grounds containing hundreds of varieties of plants and flowers. Offenders have created and continue to maintain a database that provides various information on plants and practices, and tracks seed distribution.
CCCC in cooperation with Evergreen State College established a Moss Project in 2003. This project was intended to teach offenders how to grow moss for the horticulture trade, offering an alternative to unsustainable harvest of mosses from wild forests. Recent ecological and sociological studies show current collection practices are not sustainable; therefore the National Parks and National Forest Service no longer issue permits. Collection continues illegally, which has lead to efforts developing ways of growing mosses under non-forest conditions. Outside of the CCCC-Evergreen State College moss project partnership, there is no known project of it's kind.
TREATMENT PROGRAMS
Anger and Stress Management (ASM): ASM is a standardized curriculum, providing the student tools and skills necessary to successfully manage situations that previously may have resulted in inappropriate/violent behavior. Offenders are taught methods for breaking the cycle of violence in combination with techniques to aid in stress management. This program teaches offenders how to apply principles they have learned to life circumstances outside of prison.
Victim Awareness:This program teaches offenders the financial, emotional, and physical impact of their behavior on their victims, learning the ripple effect of their actions. Offenders are brought face to face with crime victims, allowing victims to express how criminal behavior has impacted their lives.
RELIGIOUS SERVICES
DOC is committed to assisting offenders of all faiths in accordance to correctional guidelines. CCCC has a full-time chaplain who coordinates all religious activities. In addition, CCCC has a contract Catholic chaplain and several volunteer religious groups representing Muslim, Protestant, Jehovah's Witness, Native American, and Catholic (English and Spanish) faiths. These groups conduct offender services, counseling and religious studies.
HEALTHCARE
Healthcare services are available to all offenders. CCCC provides outpatient health services Monday through Friday and emergency on call services 24 hours per day. On-site medical staff includes a Physician's Assistant and Registered Nurse. Services exceeding on site capabilities are provided by nearby major facilities or outside providers.
RECREATION
The goal of the recreation department is to promote wellness and physical fitness for offenders. Cedar Creek Corrections Center has a gym, weight room, track and activity field. There are fee-based programs in weightlifting, hobby craft and music, as well as a variety of facility-wide leisure time activities. Family Friendly and cultural programs are scheduled throughout the calendar year to foster and strengthen offender-family ties and community support.
VOLUNTEERS
There are many different volunteers who offer support programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, religious activities, hobby crafts, and sport activities.
VISITING AND EXTENDED FAMILY VISITS
Visiting is an important privilege for offenders, their families and friends. It enhances family and social relationships, which can help an offender during his confinement as well as prepare him for re-entry into the mainstream of family relationships. Correctional staff monitors the visiting program and all visitors are screened before being allowed visitation.
CCCC utilizes an offender-constructed duplex for the Extended Family Visiting (EFV) Program. Each unit has two bedrooms, bunk beds for children, and a kitchen. Offenders have to maintain positive behavior and meet qualifying criteria to be eligible. Unit teams and the Superintendent screen EFV applications. EFV duration periods are 21 or 45 hours, and offenders are required to pay a fee to participate in this program.
CLASSIFICATION
Classification is an objective process, which incorporates important aspects of custody:
§ Community Safety§ Offender Behavior§ Treatment Needs
Each offender is assessed, based on his or her Risk Management Identification (RMI) to determine his or her progress toward community release. Together, the offender's counselor and facility staff evaluate program involvement through a case management process.
At each scheduled review, the offender meets with the Facility Risk Management Team (FRMT) who make a joint decision as to his progression through the system addressing program and transition needs. The FRMT includes the Custody Unit Supervisor, Unit Classification Counselors, custody staff, the inmate's work supervisor, and the inmate.
Offender Accountability Act:CCCC manages offenders on the basis of risk to re-offend, harm done to the community, risk posed to victim(s) and potential victims, as prescribed by the Offender Accountability Act.
Intervention is based on dynamic risk factors identified through the Level of Service Inventory Revised (LSI-R) instrument that scores the offenders risk to re-offend and measures offender change over time.
STAFF
A total of over 120 Administration and Custody Staff are responsible for the safety and security of the facility, offenders, and community. A correctional facility is a self-contained community, requiring a variety of skills and professions every community needs.
CCCC can attribute its success to sound management, common vision and teamwork.
Custody Staff:The primary responsibility of custody staff is to ensure the safety and security of the public, staff, visitors, and offenders. Offender property management, accounting for offenders, facility work crew assignments and offender disciplinary hearings are among the many tasks accomplished by staff daily.
Outside the facility, custody staff maintains public safety and promotes positive community relations by providing close supervision of all offender activities. This includes work crews, escorted transportation of offenders for medical and dental appointments, court appearances, transfers to other facilities, and other special community activities.
CCCC's custody staff includes a Captain, Lieutenant, 9 Correctional Sergeants, and over 50 Correctional Officers. CCCC custody staff, the Washington State Patrol, and the surrounding police and sheriff departments work together to ensure public safety at all times.
Food Service: Approximately 36,500 meals are prepared and served monthly by offender workers while supervised by food service staff. The food service department employs approximately 46 offenders and provides them the opportunity to learn food service safety and sanitation, cooking, warehouse, and office skills. Catering services are provided to the facility and other state agencies.
Health Services: CCCC provides outpatient health services for offenders. Medical staff includes a Physician's Assistant and Registered Nurse. Offender-initiated healthcare requires a co-pay fee.
Human Resources: DOC funds an estimated 120 employees and a number of contract staff who work in many job classifications including counselors, teachers, correctional officers, program manager, maintenance supervisors, religious services provider, community work crew supervisors, health service providers and administrative professionals.
Maintenance/Physical Plant:Plant Maintenance staff supervise offender crews and perform a wide range of maintenance activities including plumbing, electrical and painting. Maintenance staff and designated crews maintain the facility wastewater treatment plant, as well as completing projects involving welding, carpentry, remodeling of buildings, concrete work, cabinetmaking, and new construction.
Business Office:The business office, under direction of the Department of Corrections Office of Administrative Services, plans and directs CCCC's fiscal operations.
Responsibilities include capital planning, development, and operation of fiscal support services such as contract administration, fund accounting, inventory management, procurement of equipment and supplies, as well as preparation of operating and capital budgets. COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
CCCC's Community Advisory Committee (CAC) is an advisory board established in October of 1995. Through their input, members of CAC provide a valuable link between the facility and the community of Littlerock, including surrounding communities.
With common interests in the areas of development, implementation, and modification of facility programs and policies at CCCC, CAC functions include:
· Development and maintenance of a positive working relationship between the community and CCCC· Enhancement of dialogue between CCCC and the community· Assisting in providing opportunities for vocational, educational, social, and recreational programs for inmates· Provide information regarding facility programs and policies, and communicate policies to the public· Assist the facility in providing positive visibility to and involvement with other community groups· Interpret and convey community opinions, attitudes, and needs to CCCC· Assist in seeking resolutions to community concerns regarding CCCC · Further community education and understanding about programs associated with the transition of the inmate back into the community
The CAC is appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Corrections under the authority of the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 72.09.060, Organizations of Department - Program for Public Involvement and Volunteers, meeting quarterly to educate the community with regard to the Department of Corrections and Cedar Creek in particular.
Olympia Central (360)586-0917715 8th ave SE, P.O. Box 41122 Olympia, WA 98504-1122
Olympia Office (360)459-63703700 Martin Way, Suite 104, P.O. Box 41121 Olympia, WA 98504-1121
Olympia Work/Training Release (360)586-2731P.O. Box 1140 Olympia, WA 98504-1140
CAPACITY: 19 male and 6 female offenders
INTRODUCTION Olympia Work Release is a newly remodeled two and half story house with approximately 6500 square feet located on the West Side of Olympia. The facility is located within two blocks of the bus line, half mile from a major mall, and a mile from the central downtown core. The facility is designed to accommodate 25 offenders, with beds for 19 males and six females. The population can vary according to the number of female offenders who are referred to the program. The work release program services a four county area including Thurston, Lewis, Mason, and Grays Harbor counties. Offenders must have ties to the community in order to be accepted by the screening committee. Additionally, the program does not accept any level 3 sex offenders and level 2 sex offenders are evaluated and considered on a case-by-case basis. In order to be eligible for work release, offenders must have minimum MI1 custody and be major infraction free for 60 to 90 days. WORK EXPERIENCE Residents are expected to work with program staff to develop an individual case plan-differing depending on the offender's needs. On-site job development assistance is available through the gateway program. Additional programming is mandatory based on identified risk and need.
TREATMENT AND SELF HELP PROGRAMS
There are no education programs available on-site. The facility houses a chemical dependency program for both residents in the Work Release and offenders on community supervision in the field. Olympia Work Release offers a chemical dependency Intensive Outpatient Program, Moral Reconition Therapy, and continuing care at this time.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Programs such as Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous are accessed in the community. This is also the case with parenting classes and mental health counseling. This program has been operating for the past 22 years in the same location. The facility is recognized by the Olympia Southwest Neighborhood Association and has also actively participated with other community groups.
PACIFIC COUNTY:
Raymond Office (360)942-4817515 5th StreetRaymond, WA 98577
LEWIS COUNTY:
Chehalis Office (360)748-2187125 NW Chehalis Ave, P.O. Box 1245 Chehalis, WA 98532
SKAMANIA COUNTY:
Skamania County Office (509) 427-2746240 NW Vancouver Avenue, P.O. Box 1265 Stevenson, WA 98648
CLARK COUNTY:
Larch Corrections Center 15314 NE Dole Valley Road Yacolt, WA 98675-9531 (360)260-6300
Larch Corrections Center (LCC) is located approximately twenty (20) miles northeast of Vancouver, Washington, on a relatively remote 40-acre site in Clark County. The Department of Natural Resources also maintains a facility on the site. Larch Corrections Center maintains an all-male minimum custody population of 400 offenders. Housing consists of two, two-story living units housing 200 offenders per unit. All offenders housed at Larch Corrections Center must have four years or less remaining on their sentence and must be assigned minimum MI2 custody status. Larch offenders are required to program a minimum of 30 hours per week.
Medical services at Larch Corrections Center are provided by a full-time Physician Assistant. Dental and optical services, as well as specialty referrals for laboratory and X-ray services, are furnished by contract providers in the local community when appropriate.
Larch Corrections Center has two, full-time Recreation Specialists. Organized athletic contests are regularly scheduled and organized activities with community groups are encouraged. The Recreation Program offers a wide variety of activities such as softball, basketball, indoor and outdoor soccer, volleyball, pool, racquetball, handball, horseshoes, table tennis, badminton, weightlifting, running and field events, etc. The program provides a game room and a hobby shop. The facility's Recreation Program includes a Total Fitness Program and cardiovascular fitness training. In addition, an extensive variety of paperback books are available in the facility library. The institution provides a limited legal/law library which supplies some basic materials needed for legal work.
Larch Corrections Center has a full-time staff Chaplain who conducts or supervises religious programs and activities for offenders of all religious denominations. Also, through the facility's Community Partnership Program, approximately 50 volunteers regularly visit the facility to provide religious, recreational, and educational services to offenders.
Programming: Clark College provides Adult Basic Education, courses in interpersonal skills, workplace safety, and computer basics, and offender change courses including Anger/Stress Management, Victim Awareness, Family Dynamics, and Community Transition. Vocational training in Computer Applications and Custodial Technician I and II is also provided. Larch Corrections Center's Maintenance Department, in partnership with Clark College, provides support, materials, and testing for offenders who qualify to study for Wastewater Treatment Operator licensing.
Larch Corrections Center offers a long-term, inpatient chemical dependency program within a therapeutic community where offenders address chemical addiction and dependency, criminal behavior, and errors in thinking. Part of this program includes Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT), a step-by-step treatment strategy designed to enhance self-image, promote growth of a positive identity and facilitate the development of higher stages of moral reasoning. In addition, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous programs are available at Larch Corrections Center.
Approximately 110 Larch offenders are assigned to work crews supervised by Department of Natural Resources (DNR) staff. The DNR offender work crews perform general forestry-related work such as fire suppression, maintaining recreation sites/trails, tree planting, and pre-commercial thinning. The DNR crews also complete projects for other government entities through interagency agreements. Also, two, 10-man community service crews, under the supervision of facility custody staff, work off-site on projects for non-profit organizations and public agencies thereby saving those agencies many dollars.
The remainder of the offender population are assigned various institution jobs such as food service, janitorial, building construction and maintenance, grounds maintenance, recreation clerks, and school aides.
Vancouver East, Unit 1 & 2 (360) 260-62008008 NE Fourth Plain Blvd #360 Vancouver, WA 98662
Vancouver East OMMU (360) 260-62008008 NE Fourth Plain Blvd #360 Vancouver, WA 98662
Vancouver West (360)576-61298411 NE Highway 99 Suite B Vancouver, WA 98665
Vancouver Central (360) 397-6136500 W. 8th Street, Suite 40Vancouver, WA 98660
Clark County Work/Training Release (360)397-21665197 NW Lower River Rd, P.O. Box 61447 Vancouver, WA 98660
CAPACITY: 30 state beds
Clark County Work Release is located beside the Columbia River and is co-located within the Clark County Jail's new Work Center. There is a separate building for the work release program on the site. The building is designed to house 100 offenders, 30 of them state prison inmates and the remainder out of Clark County District and Superior Courts. There are four, 25-bed dorms. One dorm is for female offenders. State offenders must be at custody level MI1 and within six months of their Earned Release Date to be eligible to transfer to Clark County Work Release.
WORK PROGRAMS
To assist offenders in obtaining employment when they arrive from prison, a job developer assists them to plan their job search activities. Most offenders are employed within their first ten days on work release.
TREATMENT AND SELF HELP PROGRAMS
Clark County Work Release has a chemical dependency counselor who completes assessments and operates an intensive outpatient group and continuing care program.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT Offenders are allowed to attend Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings in the community.
COWLITZ COUNTY:
Longview Office (360)577-2195 1131 Broadway,Longview, WA 98632
Longview Work/Training Release (360)577-22111821 1st Avenue Longview, WA 98632
CAPACITY: 6 female and 54 male offenders
Longview Work Release is located in Cowlitz County, by the boarder of Longview and Kelso. Offenders must be MI1 custody to be eligible and can serve the remaining six months of their prison sentence in the facility before transitioning back into the community. The facility is also used as a sanction for some Community Custody Violators.
WORK PROGRAMS
All offenders are required to work with staff in developing an individual plan. The plans include work as well as educational issues. All the offenders are expected to work their programs to the full potential.
TREATMENT AND SELF HELP PROGRAMS
The facility provides programs for offenders in chemical dependency and a Sex Offender Aftercare group.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT Offenders are also offered programs through community resources. Community providers offer mental health and chemical dependency services, parenting and anger stress management classes and various education classes through the Lower Columbia Community College.
Northeast Region
Total Staff: 950Prison Facility: 2 - Airway Heights Corrections Center, Piine Lodge Corrections Center for Women Work Releases: 2 - Eleanor Chase, BrownstoneCJC: 1 - SpokaneField Offices: 11 COP Shops: 9
SPOKANE COUNTY
Airway Heights Corrections Center 11919 West Sprague Avenue, Airway Heights, WA 99001 Post Office Box 1899, Airway Heights, WA 99001-1899 (509) 244-6700
Airway Heights Corrections Center opened in 1992 and is located on a 160 acre sectionof land approximately ten miles west of Spokane. The facility consists of a main facility that houses medium and long-term minimum offenders. A separate perimeter adjacent to the main faciility accomodates a minimum security unit for offenders with minimum custody or lower.
Work Programs: Airway Heights Corrections Center offers programming in a wide range of work programs. There are currently over 1200 jobs available between the main facility and the Minimum Security Unit. They include Class I and II (Omega Pacific, Contcrete Works, the Food Factory, Bindery, Optical, Computer Refurbishing, Upholstery, Department of Natural Resources fire supression and reforestation, Security Crews, Maintenance and Porters) industries.
Spokane Area Office W. 1717 Broadway, Spokane, WA 99201 (509) 329-3680
Northeast Region Headquarters (509) 568-2123
Pine Lodge Corrections Center for Women P.O. Box 300 Medical Lake, WA 99022 (509) 299-2300
Pine Lodge Corrections Center for Women is a minimum-security female facility located in Medical Lake, Washington, approximately 17 miles west of Spokane. The program began in 1979 as an 84 bed male facility in Spokane, co-located with Spokane County Work Release. The lease was terminated in 1987 and Pre-Release moved temporarily to the grounds of the Lakeland Village Complex. In 1990, Eastern Washington Pre-Release co-located with Pine Lodge Corrections Center, and in January of 1992, the two facilities consolidated. Pine Lodge Pre-Release had been a coed facility from 1989 until it became the Pine Lodge Corrections Center for Women in July 2004.
In 1993, Pine Lodge began providing chemical dependency treatment and in the fall of 1996, began operating a twelve month Therapeutic Community for female offenders. Education programming is offered to assist offenders acquire a GED, and other valuable tools for successful transition to the community. Basic computer classes are taught that educate offenders on skills that can be later used to obtain meaningful employment in the community.
COPS-East Central Office 3001 E. 5th Spokane, WA 99202
COPS-Logan 1030 N. Hamilton Spokane, WA 99202
COPS North Central Office 630 W. Shannon Spokane, WA 99205
COPS Northeast Office 5208 N Market Spokane, WA 99207
COPS West Office 1901 W. Boone Spokane, WA 99201
TOP COPS 1201 West 1st Ave Spokane, WA 99204
Spokane Community Justice Center 715 E. Sprague, Suite 107 Spokane, WA 99202 (509) 363-2720
Spokane Community Placement Office 1821 North Maple Spokane, WA 99205 (509) 456-7676
Spokane Office --OMMU 1821 North Maple Spokane, WA 99205 (509) 329-3680
Spokane Valley 12406 E. Desmet, Suite C Spokane, WA 99216
Brownstone Work Training Release 223 S. Browne Spokane, WA 99201 (509) 456-4065
The Brownstone Work Release was established in its current location in October 1997. The facility houses adult male offenders who are under the jurisdiction of the Washington State Department of Corrections. An agreement has been made with the City of Spokane not to accept level 2 or 3 sex offenders. Eligible offenders must have minimum (MI1) custody and must have completed specific and/or required programming. Offenders are required to establish employment upon transferring to the facility. WORK PROGRAMS Spokane offers a wide selection of employment opportunities from industrial trades to food services. Residents are encouraged to utilize the support services of the Job Resource Center in their effort to secure meaningful employment. TREATMENT AND SELF HELP PROGRAMS Educational programming offered at the facility includes Moral Reconation Therapy, Victim Awareness, GED, chemical dependency programs, anger/stress management, Corrections Clearinghouse House, Driving While Intoxicated Awareness, and Parenting. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
The facility offers a monthly speaker forum on many subjects including topics on Aids/Hepatitis, the public bus system in Spokane, Consumer Credit Counseling, banking systems, men's health, Path to a Better Job, and Men in children's lives.
Eleanor Chase House W. 427 7th Ave Spokane, WA 99204 (509) 456-6318
CAPACITY: 55 female offenders Eleanor Chase House Work Training Release was named in honor of Eleanor Elizabeth Barrow Chase, renowned community leader who is also well known for her charitable contributions. It is an all-female Work Release program located in Spokane, Washington. The minimum-security facility opened in November 1993 and is state owned and operated in conjunction with Second Chance, a non-profit, contracting agency. Second Chance provides custody services and programs. The building was designed to meet the needs of incarcerated women and their children. The facility is strategically located within walking distance of downtown Spokane; the site affords easy access to employment, medical facilities, treatment providers, and transportation services. Offenders who have committed sex offenses or present a risk to children do not qualify to be housed at Eleanor Chase Work Release. WORK PROGRAMS There is an on-site Job Resource Developer Specialist that assists offenders in job searches. The Job Resource Center in Spokane is also available in assisting offenders to find employment. Between the years 1995 and 2005, Spokane County expects to have over 6,600 job openings annually. Current statistics show offenders average wage earnings of $7.51 per hour. TREATMENT AND SELF HELP PROGRAMS The Eleanor Chase House Work Release Program offers a full range of services to include chemical dependency treatment, a child visitation program, cognitive restructuring programs, group and individual counseling, mother and baby program, parenting and self esteem classes, mentoring programs and employment development. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Eleanor Chase has a strong commitment from its Advisory Board (Department of Social and Health Services, Vanessa Beham Crisis Center, Gonzaga University, Early Head Start, Child Protection Service) to provide services to residents to address their personal treatment and other needs. Additionally, there are volunteers who provide church-related services and alcoholics anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous classes to offenders.
STEVENS COUNTY
Colville Office 298 South Main, Suite 202 Colville, WA 99114 509)684-7400
OKANOGAN COUNTY Okanogan Office 238 Oak Street P. O. Box 1038 Okanogan, WA 98840 (509) 826-7360
ADAMS COUNTY Othello Office (509)488-9513P.O. Box 769 620 E. Main Othello, WA 99344-0769
GRANT COUNTY
Ephrata Office (509)754-4626 229-1st Avenue N.W. P.O. Box 159Ephrata, WA 98823 6
Moses Lake Office (509)766-65021129 Larson Blvd Moses Lake, WA 98837 ASOTIN COUNTY
Clarkston Office 728 - 6th Street Clarkston, WA 99403 (509) 758-5870
WHITMAN COUNTY Colfax Office 107 E. Wall Colfax, WA 99111 (509)397-4470

Southeast RegionTotal Staff: 1,331Prison Facilities: 3 - AVCC, CRCC, WSPWork Releases: 2 - AVCC, Tri-CitiesCJC: 1 - YakimaField Offices: 12CC Violator Program: 1- Benton County Jail
Yakima County
Southeast Regional Office Office of Correctional Operations 210 North 2nd Street Yakima, WA 98901 (509) 575-2178
Yakima Community Corrections Office 210 North 2nd Street Yakima, WA 98901 (509) 575-2176 Yakima Community Justice Center 202 W. Yakima Avenue, Suite 200 Yakima, WA 98902 (509) 454-3626
Chemical Dependency Services
Board Certified Chemical Dependency AssessmentsOpen-Ended Intensive Out-Patient Treatment Programs Day and Evening GroupsOne-On-One Chemical Dependency Counseling Chemical Dependency Aftercare Services
Alternative Sanction Programs
Work Crew
Countywide Community Service Locations
Employment Services
One-On-One Job Development Resume' PublishingPre-Employment Skills and EducationJob Search Skills and Services
Employment database and referrals
Supporting Change Groups
Moral Reconation Therapy
Yakima Community Corrections - Drug Unit 32 North 3rd Street, Suite 235 Yakima, WA 98901 (509) 454-7812
Toppenish Community Corrections Office 604 West 4th, Suite D Toppenish, WA 98948 (509) 865-4851
Sunnyside Community Corrections Office 2201 E. Edison, Suite 3 P.O. Box 1038Sunnyside, WA 98944 (509) 836-5444
Athanum View Correctional Complex Assisted Living Facility 2009 South 64th Avenue Yakima, WA 98903 (509) 573-6300
Facility Description: The Ahtanum View Correctional Complex is comprised of a 60-bed work release and a 130 bed Assisted Living Facility. Assisted Living facility offenders are selected for placement at Ahtanum View because they are occupying expensive beds in infirmaries/hospitals at larger correctional facilities and/or are unable to program successfully at these larger facilities due to their age, disability or medical condition.
The Assisted Living Facility houses male offenders, who are elderly, disabled and/or medically challenged and need some assistance in day to day activities. Offenders are required to program to their fullest potential, establish an accountability plan both for the time they are at the facility and a transition plan for their eventual release.
Ahtanum View Correctional Complex Work/Training Release Center 2011 South 64th Avenue Yakima, WA 98903 (509) 573-6312
CAPACITY: 120 Ahtanum View Work Release is a 60-bed facility that accommodates both male and female offenders. All offenders work in the Yakima area and pay room and board, restitution, legal fees, and family support when applicable. Originally, the work release was located at 1704 Grant Street near Yakima Valley Community College. It opened in Oct 1972 and expanded to its present location in 1978. Since its inception, it has become an intricate part of both the business and law enforcement communities in Yakima. Approximately 3500 residents have successfully transitioned from this program to the surrounding community. WORK PROGRAMS All residents are expected to secure employment within ten working days of arriving at the facility. Both state and contract staff work with each offender in order to develop an individualized case plan designed to address the individual needs of the offender. TREATMENT/SELF HELP PROGRAMS Programs offered at the facility include employment counseling, drug and alcohol treatment, anger management, and family and personal counseling. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
A strong community volunteer/sponsor program has for many years been a major component at Work Release. Reintegration of the offender to the community is the primary mission.
KLICKTAT COUNTY Goldendale Community Corrections Office 228 South Columbus Avenue Suite 103 Goldendale, WA 98620 (509) 773-3708
BENTON COUNTY Kennewick Administrative Unit 500 N. Morain, Suite 1100 Kennewick, WA 99336 phone: 509-734-5666
Kennewick/Tri-Cities Field Office Annex 500 N. Morain, Suite 1101 Kennewick, WA 99336 (509) 734-5600
(509) 734-7097 Tri-Cities Work/Training Release Center P.O. Box 1318, Pasco, WA 99301 524 East Bruneau Avenue Kennewick, WA 99336 (509) 585-1560
CAPACITY: 34 male and 6 female offenders Tri-Cities Work Release is a minimum-security facility, which opened in June of 1999. It is the only state owned work release that is solely staffed by Department of Corrections employees. It is a single level, 12,500 square foot building on 1.37 acres, located one block south of the Columbia River in east downtown Kennewick. The work release is comprised of a male and a female wing, housing a total of 40 residents. Each wing accommodates handicap accessible living quarters. The facility includes a recreation room, laundry room, separate male and female television rooms, multi-purpose computer lab room, state of the art kitchen and dining/break room, and a large visiting room. In the back "yard", the facility provides a secure bicycle rack for its residents, weight lifting equipment, covered smoking area, half court basketball, volleyball area, picnic tables, and a large lawn all surrounded by a six-foot cyclone fence and perimeter cameras. WORK PROGRAMS Most residents find employment in food services, agribusiness and construction. Residents utilize workforce job training and experience programs, Columbia Basin College for GED, higher education and vocational training. There is an active referral network for employment services, addressing barriers for employment. TREATMENT AND SELF HELP PROGRAMS
Educational/Self Help classes and programming offered at Tri-Cities Work Release include a six week Intensive Outpatient/Relapse Prevention with a Moral Reconation Therapy component, ongoing cognitive restructuring program, an eight week Family Re-entry/Conflict Resolution class and victim awareness. Tri-Cities Work Release partners with the Migrant Council/Work Source Center in assisting residents with employment opportunities.
FRANKLIN COUNTY Coyote Ridge Corrections Center P.O. Box 769 1301 North Ephrata Connell, WA 99326 (509) 543-5800.
CAPACITY: 800 INTRODUCTION Coyote Ridge Corrections Center is a minimum-security correctional facility located in Connell, Washington. The facility houses 800 male offenders who are within four years of the end of their sentence. Living units are comprised of two-man rooms and dormitories. An offender may earn the privilege of living in a two-man room through infraction-free behavior and appropriate programming. An offender will remain at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center until his behavior allows transfer to a work release setting, or he is released into the community at the end of his sentence. WORK PROGRAMS Most offenders are required to participate in work and training assignments a total of 40 hours each week. On-site support jobs include custodial, grounds-keeping, food service, heavy equipment operations, laundry, carpentry, welding, construction, plant maintenance, warehouse, barber and clerks. Other positions include involvement in the horticulture, recycling, and Department of Wildlife programs. Correctional Industries is an offender staffed business producing linen goods such as towels, sheets, pillow cases, mattress covers and laundry bags sold to other agencies such as jails, colleges, and school districts, hospitals and non-profit organizations. TREATMENT AND OTHER SELF HELP PROGRAMS Coyote Ridge offers offenders several educational programs to learn new skills and prepare them for release back into society. Programs include Moral Reconation Therapy, Victim Awareness, Offender Speak-Out Program, chemical dependency programs, Therapeutic Community, Anger/Stress Management, and Corrections Clearinghouse. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT The Coyote Ridge Community Advisory Committee, comprised of representatives of city government, local businesses and private citizens, serves the community by enhancing communication and cooperation between the various representatives and the facility. The Advisory Committee also facilitates community involvement in the implementation of vocational, educational, and social programs at Coyote Ridge. The work crew experience focuses on work ethics and responsible work behavior, to aid rehabilitation. Offenders are closely screened for community safety fitness. Off-site work crew labor has assisted the City of Connell in restoring historic buildings for community use. Offender workers remodeled the old city hall and transformed it into a new library, and have restored an old church for use as an historical museum. This crew also maintains parks, the cemetery, public buildings, repairs city vehicles and maintenance at the City Community Center and city swimming pool.
Work crews are active in the region at Columbia Basin College, Benton City Fairgrounds, the TRAC facility and city parks. Work crews have also assisted with the new sewer system for the cities of Mattawa and Starbuck.
Pasco Community Corrections Office 712 North Fourth Pasco, WA 99301 (509) 545-2415
CHELAN & DOUGLAS COUNTIES Wenatchee Community Corrections Office 325 N. Chelan, Suite A P.O. Box 2869 Wenatchee, WA 98807 (509) 663-9712
KITTITAS COUNTY Ellensburg Community Corrections Office 507 N. Pine, Suite D Ellensburg, WA 98926 (509) 962-7700
WALLA WALLA & COLUMBIA COUNTIES Washington State Penitentiary 1313 N. 13th Avenue Walla Walla, WA 99362-1065 (509) 525-3610
The Washington State Penitentiary is located on 540 acres of farmland near the Eastern Washington community of Walla Walla, Washington. The facility houses maximum, close, medium and minimum security offenders. It operates one of the State's three Intensive Management Units. Depending on the offender's custody level upon transfer, they are placed either in the Main Institution, the Medium Security Complex (Baker, Adams and Rainier Units), the Intensive Management Unit or the Minimum Security Unit. Various programs are offered including Adult Basic Education, English as a Second Language, and General Education Equivalency Preparation. Medium custody offenders have the option to participate in an Auto Body Vocational program and Office Technology course. The Main Institution offers offenders a Barbering program and Office Technology classes. The Minimum-Security Facility offers the Carpentry Program and community work crews that assist the community in maintenance and other jobs.
Offender change intervention courses, Achieving Your Potential, Anger/Stress Management, Human Behavior In Prison, Breaking Barriers, Victim Awareness, Marriage & Family Life, Family Dynamics & Parenting, Gender Communication, and Cultural diversity are offered to offenders. The facility currently does not have chemical dependency or Moral Reconation Therapy courses.
Walla Walla Community Corrections Office 401 West Main, Suite C Walla Walla, WA 99362 (509) 527-4449

Need Help Filing Your Grievance?

2005-03-26T00:42:00.000-08:00

Filing Grievances in a Washington State Correctional Facility

By Gregory Brown
Want TAXPAYERS FOR PRISON REFORM
to Help You With Your Grievance?

WHEN PURSUING A GRIEVANCE for Taxpayers for Prison Reform to follow up on, be sure to follow the directions outlined in our "Basic Instructions on Filing Grievances in a Washington State Correctional Facility" (Below, scroll down), along with the requirements listed in the Department of Corrections Offender Grievance Program manual.

In addition, make sure that you list the name(s) of any staff member(s) who witnessed or was/were involved in the conduct or incident being grieved, and attach a copy of any documentary evidence when you mail your grievance to Taxpayers for Prison Reform.

Also, briefly state what you are grieving at the very beginning of your grievance. For example, if you are grieving the lights in the Intensive Management Unit, start your grievance by saying, "I am grieving the lights in the Intensive Management Unit." After that, you may go on to explain my you are griving the lights. If you are grieving an officer's conduct, start your grievance by saying, "I am grieving the conduct of officer so and so." Starting your grievance(s) like this will help us to identify your issue(s) quicker and, in turn, get more things done on behalf of inmates.

And finally, fill out and sign a Waiver of Confidentiality:

================

Taxpayers for Prison Reform, PO Box 595, Shelton WA 98584-0595

WAIVER OF CONFIDENTIALITY

I, (name and DOC number)_____________________________________________,

(Address)___________________________________________________________, hereby waive my right to confidentiality under chapter 42.17 RCW, chapter 137-08 WAC, and Department of Corrections Offender Grievance Program manual OGP-190, regarding grievance(s) log I.D. number(s) ___________________________________, and further give permission to Taxpayers for Prison Reform and its representatives, to use the aforesaid grievance(s) for legal, political, and/or civic purposes.

Signature______________________________ Date______________

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Basic Instructions on Filing Grievances in a Washington State Correctional Facility:

Complaints against written policy or procedure do not have a time limit. See OGP-080(2). Grievance Coordinators are to process these types of grievances on white-colored "level I" grievance forms. See FAC-040. Grievance Coordinators generally respond to these complaints within five (5) working days from date the grievance is received, by either informing you that the grievance is being formally processed, or by giving a reason for not processing the grievance. See FAC-040.

The Grievance Coordinator generally initiates "formal grievance paperwork" within three (3) working days from the date that he or she informs you that the formal grievance paperwork is being processed. See FAC-040

In grievances against written policy or procedure, the Grievance Coordinator is supposed to provide a formal written response within ten (10) working days from the date the formal grievance paperwork was started. See FAC-040.

Grievances against policy or procedure have three (3) levels. If you receive an unfavorable level I response, you may appeal to level II within two (2) working days from the date that you received the unfavorable response. See FAC-040. If you receive an unfavorable level II response, you may appeal to level III within two (2) working days from the date that you received the unfavorable response. See FAC-040.

Complaints alleging improper staff conduct must be filed within five (5) working days from the incident complained about. See OGP-080(2) and FAC-040. The Grievance Coordinator is supposed to process these complaints on gold-colored "level II" grievance forms. The Grievance cooordinator cannot investigate this type of grievance, but rather, must send it to the Superintendent for investigation and response. See OGP-080(2), and FAC-040. If you appeal an unfavorable response to your staff conduct grievance, the Deputy Secretary/designee responds within twenty (20) working days from the date that he or she received the appeal. See FAC-040.

In grievances alleging staff misconduct, the prison Superintendent is supposed to provide a formal, written response within twenty (20) working days from the date the formal grievance paperwork was started. See FAC-040.

You should write your grievances on standard grievance forms, which should be located in grievance boxes in every housing unit. If no grievance form is available, the grievance may be written on a regular sheet of paper. See OGP 080(12).

You may not submit more than five (5) grievances per week. See OGP-075(I)(A). and you may not have more than five (5) grievances going at a time. See OGP-075(II)(A).

you must participate in grievance interviews. If someone calls you out to talk to you about your grievance, you must talk to that person. Otherwise, the Grievance Coordinator may withdraw your grievance. OGP-085.

If you received an infraction about an incident that you have also filed a grievance on, you must wait to get the entire infraction dismissed before you will be allowed to pursue your grievance. OGP-030(16)(e).

If the Grievance Coordinator returns your grievance by saying your issue is "non-grievable," you may appeal that Grievance Coordinator's decision to the Grievance Program Manager, Central Grievance Office, Department of Corrections, PO Box 41129, Olympia, WA 98504-1129. See OGP-065.

If the Grievance Coordinator returns your grievance with instructions to "rewrite" that grievance, you must rewrite the grievance as instructed. There is no process allowing you to appeal the instruction to rewrite a grievance. If you do not rewite the grievance, the Grievance Coordinator may withdraw your grievance. See OGP-080(11).

If, after you have done everything within your power to follow the grievance rules, prison officials still refuse to process your grievance, it is then considered "exhausted" and may be reviewed by people outside of the department of corrections. SEE: Lewis v. Washington, 300 F. 3d 829 (7th Cir. 2002); Miller v. Tanner, 196 F. 3d 1190, 1193-94 (11th Cir. 1999).

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Send a copy of your grievance and your completed, signed waiver of confidentiality, and copies of any supporting documents to:

Taxpayers for Prison Reform
ATTN: Gregory Brown
Post Office Box 595
Shelton WA 98584-0595

When Prison Personnel Break The Law

2005-03-26T00:05:00.000-08:00

Don't Be Victimized By Official Scofflaws

Included below are some of the most common state laws and regulations broken by corrections employees. Familiarity with your rights is the starting point for protecting them. The ultimate goal is to identify chronic scofflaws among prison staff and officials, to expose their wrong-doing to the authorities, the media and the community; and if they do not change their ways, to get them removed from the system.
These laws and regulations apply to the state of Washington, but most other states and the federal system have similar protections.

IT'S THE LAW !

Compiled by Gregory Tyree Brown

RCW 72.09.010. Legislative intent. It is the intent of the legislature to establish a comprehensive system of corrections for convicted law violators within the state of Washington to accomplish the following objectives.

1) The system should ensure the public safety. The system should be designed and managed to provide the maximum feasible safety for the persons and property of the general public, the staff, and inmates alike.

2) The system should punish the offender for violating the laws of the state of Washington. This punishment should generally be limited to the denial of liberty of the offender.

3) The system should positively impact offenders by stressing personal responsibility and accountability and by discouraging recidivism.

4.) The system should treat all offenders fairly and equitably without regard to race, religion, sex, national origin, residence, or social condition.

5) The system, as much as possible, should reflect the values of the community including:
a) Avoiding idleness. Idleness is not only wasteful but destructive to the individual and to the community.
b) Adoption of the work ethic. It is the community expectation that all individuals should work and through their efforts benefit both themselves and the community.
c) Providing opportunities for self improvement. All individuals should have opportunities to grow and expand their skills and abilities so as to fulfill their role in the community.
d) Linking the receipt or denial of privileges to responsible behavior and accomplishments. The individual who works to improve himself or herself and the community should be rewarded for these efforts. As a corollary, there should be no reward for no effort.
e) Sharing in the obligations of the community. All citizens, the public and inmates alike, have a personal and fiscal obligation in the corrections system. All communities must share in the responsibility of the corrections system.

6) The system should provide for prudent management of resources. The avoidance of unnecessary or inefficient public expenditures on the part of offenders and the department is essential. Offenders must be accountable to the department, and the department to the public and the legislature. The human and fiscal resources of the community are limited. The management of these resources can be enhanced by wise investment, productive programs, the reduction of duplication and waste, and the joining together of all involved parties in a common endeavor. Since most offenders return to the community, it is wise for the state and the communities to make an investment in effective rehabilitation programs for offenders and the wise use of resources.

7) The system should provide for restitution. Those who have damaged others, persons or property, have a responsibility to make restituion for these damages.

8) The system should be accountable to the citizens of the state. In return, the individual citizens and local units of government must meet their responsibilities to make the corrections system effective.

9) The system should meet those national standards which the state determines to be appropriate. [1995 1st sp.s. c19 pargraph 2; 1981 c 136 paragraph 2.1]

WAC 356-34-010. Disciplinary action--Cause for demotion--suspension--reduction-in-salary--dismissal. (1) Appointing authorities may demote, suspend, reduce in salary, or dismiss a permanent employee under their jusisdiction for any of the following reasons: (a) Neglect of duty; (b) Inefficiency; (c) Incompetence; (d) Insubordination; (e) Indolence; (f) Conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude; (g) Malfeasance; (h) Gross misconduct; (i) Willful violation of the published employing agency or department of personnel rules or regulations.

(2) Appointing authorities shall dismiss any employee under their jurisdiction whose performance is so inadequate as to warrant dismissal.

(3) Appointing authorities shall remove from supervisory position those supervisors who, in violation of subsection 2 of this section, have tolerated the continued employment of employees under their supervision whose performance has warranted termination from state employment.

RCW 9.92.110. Convicts protected--forfeitures abolished. Every person sentenced to imprisonment in any penal institution shall be under the protection of the law, and any unauthorized injury to his person shall be punished in the same manner as if he were not so convicted or sentenced. A conviction of crime shall not work a forfeiture of any property, real or personal, or of any right or interest therein. All forfeitures in the nature of deodands, or in case of suicide or where a person flees justice, are abolished.

RCW 9A.36.070. Coercion.

(1) A person is guilty of coercion if by use of a threat he compels or induces a person to engage in conduct which the latter has a legal right to abstain from, or to abstain from conduct which he has a legal right to engage in.

(2) "Threat" as used in this section means: (a) To communicate, directly or indirectly, the intent immediately to use force against any person who is present at the time; or (b) Threats as defined in RCW 9A.04.110(25)(a), (b) or (c).

(3) Coercion is a gross misdemeanor.

RCW 9A.46.020. Harassment--definition--Penalty. (1) A person is guilty of harassment if:
(a) Without lawful authority, the person knowingly threatens: (i) To cause bodily injury immediately or in the future to the person threatened or to any other person; or (ii) to cause physical damge to the property of a person other than the actor; or (iii) To subject the person threatened or any other person to physical confinement or restraint; or (iv) Maliciously to do any other act which is intended to substantially harm the person threatened or another with respect to his or her physical or mental health or safety; and
(b) The person by words or conduct places the person threatened in reasonable fear that the threat will be carried out. "Words or conduct" includes, in addition to any other form of communication or conduct, the sending of an electronic communication.

(2) A person who harasses another is guilty of a gross misdemeanor punishable under chapter 9A.20 RCW, except that the person is guilty of a class C felony if either of the following applies: (a) The person has previously been convicted in this or any other state of any crime of harassment, as defined in RCW 9A.46.060, of the same victim or members of the victim's family or household or any person specifically named in a non-contact or no-harassment order; or (b) the person harasses another person under subsection (a)(i) of this section by threatening to kill the person threatened or any other person.

(3) The penalties provided in this section for harassment do not preclude the victim from seeking any other remedy otherwise available under law.

RCW 9A.46.060. Crimes included in harassment. As used in this chapter, "harassment" may include but is not limited to any of the following crimes: (1) Harassment (RCW 9A.46.020);
(2) Malicious harassment (RCW 9A.36.080); (4) Assault in the first degree (RCW 9A.36.011); (6) Assault in the second degree (RCW 9A.36.041); (9) Reckless endangerment (RCW 9A.36.050; (12) Coercion (RCW 9A.36.070); (14) Burglary in the first degree (RCW 9A.52.030) (17) Malicios mischief in the first degree (RCW 9A.48.070; (18) Malicious mischief in the second degree (RCW 9A.48.080); (19) Malicious mischief in the third degree (RCW 9A.48.090); (22) Unlawful imprisonment (RCW 9A.40.040).

RCW 9A.48.070. Malicious mischief in the first degree. (1) A person is guilty of malicious mischief in the first degree if he knowingly and maliciously:
(a) Causes physical damage to the property of another in an amount exceeding one thousand five hundred dollars;
(b) Causes an interruption or impairment of services rendered to the public by physically damaging or tampering with an emergency vehicle or property of the state, a political subdivision thereof, or a public utility or mode of public transportation, power, or communication;
(C) Causes an impairment of the safety, efficiency, or operation of an aircraft by physically damaging or tampering with the aircraft or aircraft equipment, fuel, lubricant, or parts.

(2) Malicious mischief in the first degree is a class b felony.

RCW 9A.48.080. Malicious mischief in the second degree. (1) A person is guilty of malicious mischief in the second degree if he knowingly and maliciously:
(a) Causes physical damage to the property of another in an amount exceeding two hundred fifty dollars; or
(b) Creates a substantial risk of interruption or impairment of service rendered to the public, by physically damaging or tampering with an emergency vehicle or property of the state, a political subdivision thereof, or a public utility or mode of public transportation, power, or communication.

(2) Malicious mischief in the second degree is a class C felony.

RCW 9A.48.090. Malicious mischief in the third degree. (1) A person is guilty of malicious mischief in the third degree if he or she:
(a) Knowingly and maliciously caused physical damage to the property of another, under circumstances not amounting to malicious mischief in the first or second degree; or
(b) Writes, paints, or draws an inscription, figure, or mark of any type on any public or private building or other structure or any real or personal property owned by any other person unless the person has obtained the express permission of the owner or operatior of the property, under circumstances not amounting to malicious mischief in the first or second degree.
(2) (a) malicious mischief in the third degree under subsection (1) (a) of this section is a gross misdemeanor if the damage to the property is in an amount exceeding fifty dollars; otherwise it is a misdemeanor.
(b) Malicious mischief in the third degree under subsection (1) (b) of this section is a gross misdemeanor.

RCW 9A.48.100. Malicious mischief--"Physical damage" defined. For the purpose of RCW 9A.48.070 through 9A.48.090 inclusive:

(1) "Physical damage," in addition to its ordinary meaning, shall include the total or partial alteration, damage, obliteration, or erasure of records, information, data, computer programs, or their computer representations, which are recorded for use in computers or the impairment, interruption, or interference with the use of such records, information, data, or computer programs, or the impairment, interruption, or interference with the use of any computer or services provide by computers. "Physical damage" also includes any diminuation in the value of any property as the consequence of an act;

(2) If more than one item of property is physically damaged as a result of a common scheme or plan by a person and the physical damage to the property would, when considered separately, constitute mischief in the third degree because of value, then the value of the damages may be aggregated in one count. If the sum of the value of all the physical damage exceeds two hundred fifty dollars, the defendant may be charged with and convicted of malicious mischief in the second degree.

RCW 9A.56.020. Theft--Defined, defenses. (1) "Theft" means:
(a) to wrongfully obtain or exert unauthorized control over the property or services of another or the value thereof, with intent to deprive him of such property or services; or
(b) By color of aid or deception to obtain control over the property or services of another or the value thereof, with intent to deprive him of such property or services; or
(c) To appropriate lost or misdelivered property or services of another, or the value thereof, with intent to deprive him of such property or services.

RCW 9A.56.030. Theft in the first degree--Other than firearm.
(1) A person is guilty of theft in the first degre if he or she commits theft of:
(a) Property or services which exceed(s) one thousand five hundred dollars in value other than a firearm as defined in RCW 9.41.010; or
(b) Property of any value other than a firearm as defined in RCW 9.41.010 taken from the person of another.

(2) Theft in the first degree is a class B felony.

RCW 9A.56.040. Theft in the second degree--Other than a firearm. (1) A person is guilty of theft in the second degree if he or she commits theft of: (a) Property or services which exceed(s) two hundred and fifty dollars in value other than a firearm as defined in RCW 9.41.010, but does not exceed one thousand five hundred dollars in value; or (b) a public record, writing, or instrument, filed or deposited according to law with or in the keeping of any public office or public servant; or (c) An access device; or (d) a motor vehicle, of a value less than one thousand five hundred dollars.

(2) Theft in the second degree is a class C felony.

RCW 9A.56.050 Theft in the third degree. (1) A person is guilty of theft in the third degree if he or she commits theft of property or services which (a) does not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars in value, or ten or more merchandise pallets, or ten or more beverage crates, or a combination of ten or more merchandise pallets and beverage crates.

(2) Theft in the third degree is a gross misdemeanor.

RCW 9A.72.080. Statement of what one does not know to be true. Every unqualified statement of that which one does not know to be true is equivalent to a statement of that which one knows to be false.
RCW 9A.80.010. Official misconduct. (1) A public servant is guilty of official misconduct if, with intent to obtain a benefit or to deprive another person of a lawful right or privilege: (a) He intentionally commits an unlawful act under color of law; or (b) He intentionally refrains from performing a duty imposed upon him by law.

(2) Official misconduct is a gross misdemeanor.

RCW 9A.76.020. Obstructing a law enforcement officer. (1) A person is guilty of obstructing a law enforcement officer if the person willfully hinders, delays, or obstructs any law enforcement officer in the discharge of his or her official powers or duties.

RCW 9A.76.050. Rendering criminal assistance--Definition of term. As used in RCW 9A.76.070, 9A.76.080, and 9A.76.090, a person "renders criminal assistance" if, with intent to prevent, hinder, or delay the apprehension or prosecution of another person who he knows has committed a crime or juvenile offense or is being sought by law enforcement officials for the commission of a crime or juvenile offense or has escaped from a detention facility, he: (1) Harbors or conceals such person; or (2) Warns such person of impending discovery or apprehension; or (3) Provides such person with money, transportation, disguise, or other means of avoiding discovery or apprehension; or (4) Prevents or obstructs by use of force, deception, or threat, anyone from performing an act that might aid in the discovery or apprehension of such person; or (5) Conceals, alters, or destroys any physical evidence that might aid in the discovery or apprehension of such person; or (6) Provides such person with a weapon.

RCW 9A.76.070. Rendering criminal assistance in the first degree. (1) A person is guilty of rendering criminal assistance in the first degree if he renders criminal assistance to a person who has committed or is being sought for murder in the first degree or any class A felony or equivalent juvenile offense.

RCW 9A.76.080. Rendering criminal assistance in the second degree. (1) A person is guilty of rendering criminal assistance in the second degree if he renders criminal assistance to a person who has committed or is being sought for a class B felony or an equvalent juvenile offense or to someone being sought for violation of parole, probation, or community supervision.

(2) Rendering criminal assistance in the second degree is: (a) a misdemaanor if it is established by a preponderance of the evidence that the actor is a relative as defined in RCW 9A.76.060; or (b) A gross misdemeanor in all other cases.

RCW 9A.76.090. Rendering criminal assistance in the third degree; (1) A person is guilty of rendering criminal assistance in the third degree if he renders criminal assistance to a person who has committed a gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor.

(2) Rendering criminal assistance in the third degree is a misdemeanor.

RCW 42.20.040. False report. Every public officer who shall knowingly make any false or misleading statement in any official report or statement under circumstances not otherwise prohibited by law, shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

RCW 42.20.050. Public officer making false certificate. Every public officer who, being authorized to make or give a certificate or other writing, shall knowingly make and deliver as true such certificate or writing containing any statement which he knows to be false, in a case where the punishment thereof is not expressly prescribed by law, shall be guilty of a gross misdemanor.

RCW 42.20.070. Misappropriation and falsification of accounts by public officer. Every public officer, and every other person receiving money on behalf or for or on account of the people of the state or any department of the state government or of any bureau or fund created by law in which the people are directly or indirectly interested, or for or on account of any county, city, town, or any school, diking, drainage, or irrigation district, who:

(1) Shall appropriate to his or her own use or the use of any person not entitled thereto, without authority of law, any money so received by him or her as such officer or otherwise; or

(2) Shall knowingly keep any fake account, or make any false entry or erase in any account, of or relating to any money so received by him or her; or

(3) shall fraudulently alter, falsify, conceal, destroy or obliterate any such account; or

(4) Shall willfully omit or refuse to pay over to the state, its officer or agent authorized by law to receive the same, or to such county, city, town, or such school, diking, or drainage, or irrigation district or to the proper officer or authority empowered to demand and receive the same, any money received by him or her as such officer when it is a duty imposed upon him or her by law to pay over and account for the same, shall be punished by imprisonment in a state correctional facislity for not more than fifteen years.

RCW 42.20.080. Other violations by officers. Every officer or other person mentioned in RCW 42.20.070, who shall willfully disobey any provision of law resulting in his official conduct in cases other than those specified in said section, shall be guilty of a gross misdemanor.

RCW 42.20.090 Public officer making false certificate. Every public officer who, being authorized by law to make or give a certificate or other writing, shall knowingly make and deliver as true such a certificate or writing containing any statement which he knows to be false, in a case where the punishment thereof is not expressly prescribed by law, shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

RCW 42.20.100. Failure of duty by public officer a misdemeanor. Whenever any duty is enjoined upon ay public officer or other person holding any public trust or employment, their willful neglect to perform such duty, except where otherwise specifically provided for, shall be a misdemeanor.

RCW.43.01.125. Duty to identify employees whose performance warrants termination from employment. It is the responsibility of each agency head to institute management procedures designed to identify any agency employee, either supervisory or nonsupervisory, whose performance is so inadequate as to warrant termination from state employment. In addition, it is the responsibility of each agency head to remove from supervisory position any supervisor within the agency who has tolerated the continued employment of any employee under his or her supervision whose performance has warranted termination from state employment.
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Here are some federal laws that may be useful
(This link will take you to the US Code site) http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/
15 U.S.C. 1, 15 U.S.C. 4, 15 U.S.C. 15, 15 U.SC. 16,
18 U.S.C 1962,
21 U.S.C. 848,
47 U.S.C. 605
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Some more Washington State Laws

(This link will take you to the RCW site) http://www.leg.wa.gov/rcw/index.cfm

RCW 9A.32.010, RCW 9A.32.020, RCW 9A.32.030, RCW 9A.32.040, RCW 9A.32.050, RCW 9A.32.060, RCW 9A.32.070
RCW 9A.36.011, RCW 9A.36.021, RCW 9A.36.031, RCW 9A.36.041
RCW 9A.44.160, RCW 9A.44.170
RCW 9A.50.010, RCW 9A.50.020, RCW 9A.50.030, RCW 9A.50,040, RCW 9A.50.050, RCW 9A.50.070
RCW 9A.56.010, RCW 9A.56.020, RCW 9A.56.030, RCW 9A.56.040, RCW 9A.56.050
RCW 43.17.010, RCW 43.17.060
RCW 72.17.010, RCW.72.01.060
RCW 72.01.090, RCW 72.01.300
RCW 72.O2.040, RCW 72.02.045
RCW 72.09.135, RCW 72.09.530
(Entire chapters:) RCW 72.74, and RCW 72.76

How to Make an Administrative Complaint

2005-03-25T23:39:00.000-08:00

By Gregory T. Brown

An "administrative complaint," as used here, is a written complaint addressed to one or more government officials, that is intended to bring about a specific result.

The administrative complaint has five basic components: Facts; Applicable Laws, Rules, Regulations, Policies and Procedures; Questions Presented; Arguments; and Conclusion. In the Facts section, state ALL ESSENTIAL DETAILS, attach a copy of all papers that will prove your claims, and number these attachments as exhibits. In the section entitled "Applicable Laws, Rules, Regulations, Policies and Procedures," quote word-for-word all applicable laws, rules, regulations, policies and procedures that are applicable to your complaint. In the "Questions Presented" section, identify the points that you must prove in order to prove your complaint, and state those points in the form of a question. (for example, "Did Corrections Officer Butt-Head falsify an official report?" Then answer that question, "Yes." In the "Argument" section, explain how the actions of prison officials violated the applicable laws, rules, regulations, policies and procedures. In the "Conclusion" section, briefly state how you want your complaint resolved.

You should send a cover-letter along with your complaint. Your cover-letter should list the documents being mailed to the official, and state how you want the official to proceed in getting to the bottom of your complaint (For example, if a phone call would prove your complaint then ask the official to make that phone call).

Here is an example of an actual Administrative Complaint. (Some of the people mentioned in it have since been transferred, demoted, etc.)

RE: Criminal Violations Routinely
Committed by Prison Officials

I. FACTS

1. I am an African American inmate confined in "close custody" at the Washington State Penitentiary ("WSP"). I was employed as store clerk/handler in Unit 6 until I, along with all other ethnic minority inmates, was fired after store items were stolen. All African American inmates were fired and given a disciplinary infraction. All other ethnic minorities were fired without disciplinary action. None of the caucasian inmate store clerk/handlers were fired or bothered in any way.

2. On or about September 4, 2004, second shift Sgt. Penrose verbally accused me of stealing store items while working as 3rd shift store clerk. He claimed the Unit 6 video tape recording showed me stealing, and he said he would have officers who work on the shift write an infraction. I then told Penrose that is not possible since I have not stolen anything. Thereafter I was fired.

3. On September 27, 2004 I received a major disciplinary infraction written by Corrections Officer Geise, and witnessed by Sgt. Clark. The infraction report states: "I/M Red, Kevin #998636 was observed communicating with inmates that obviously were involved with the theft of other inmate stores, and their direct theft of other inmate's store. As well, inmate Red was directly observed assisting these other inmates with selecting the stores to steal by placing the stores into a different area, to be picked up by the thieving inmates." SEE exhibit A.

4. In addition, Sgt. Clark wrote a separate statement that says, "After reviewing the video tapes from 0902-04 of the Unit Six Dayroom that were recorded during the inmate store call outs between the hours of 15:00 and 16:00, several obvious thefts of inmates store were noted. It appeared very clear to me, that several inmates conspired together to obtain store in manners that should be considered theft. The following inmates were involved: Red, Kevin #998636/ Hinto, James #797740/ Jones, Domico #940916/ Brown, Ronnie #753035. The following inmates, Jones, Derrick #710049 and Red, Kevin #998636 appeared to be giving direction to the others in all incidents that I observed on the video tapes. These two inmates appeared to be informing/directing the before mentioned inmates which store they should take. On the video all of these inmates mentioned in the memo, except I/M Red and I/M Jones, Derrick, were not allowed in the inmate store area. SEE exhibit B.

5. C/O Geise also said the thefts committed by myself and other Unit 6 African American inmate store clerks/handlers created tension between prison gang members.

6. On September 30, 2004, I went to a major disciplinary hearing chaired by Lieutenant Crews for the infraction. Two or three of the African American inmates who had the same infraction that I had, had their hearings before mine. They were all found guilty.

7. During my hearing, I argued with Lieutenant Crews and refused to settle for anything less than an independent review of the Unit 6 video tape. I insisted that I did not do anything wrong, and that Penrose, Clark and Geise are lying on me in order to cover up for Caucasian inmates. Lieutenant Crews then looked for the video and found out there was no video tape at all. The infraction was therefore dismissed. SEE exhibit C.

8. On October 4, 2004, I submitted grievance log I.D. no. 0420704 regarding the false infraction. However, the prison Grievance Coordinator (and fellow staff member) Dave Snell, returned my grievance to me and advised me to speak with my Unit Counselor or Unit Manager. SEE exhibit D.

9. On October 7, 2004 I sent a written request to speak with my Unit Counselor; however, he refuses to speak with me. SEE exhibit E.

II. APPLICABLE LAWS,
RULES AND REGULATIONS

10. Under OGO- , I may file a grievance concerning an incident for which a disciplinary infraction was issued, so long as that infraction was dismissed in its entirety. SEE exhibit F.

11. Under RCW 72.09.010(4), it is the intent of the Legislature to establish a comprehensive system of corrections for convicted law violators within the state of Washington to treat all offenders fairly and equitably without regard to race or national origin.

12. DOC Policy Directive 100.500(I) "prohibits discrimination or acting unfairly or illegally on the basis of national origin, race, color, ..." Section II states, "All applicable Federal and State laws, regulations, and Executive Orders regarding non-discrimination will be followed." Section III states, "The Department shall provide relief from any form of discrimination in the workplace and shall establish guidelines for reporting discrimination."

13. Under WAC 356-340010(1), prison officials may be suspended, demoted, dismissed, or have their salary reduced for neglect of duty, inefficiency, incompetence, insubordiantion, indolence, conviction of crime, malfeasance, gross misconduct, or willful violation of published employing agency or department of personnel rules of regulations.

14. Under RCW 43.01.125, "It is the responsibility of each agency head to institute management procedures designed to identify an agency employee, either supervisory or non-supervisory, whose performance is so inadequate as to warrant termination from state employment. In addition, it is the responsibility of each agency head to identify any employee supervisory official who has tolerated the continued employment of any employee under his or her supervision whose performance has warranted termination from state employment."

15. Under RCW 9A.80.010(1), a public servant is guilty of official misconduct if, with intention to obtain a benefit or to deprive another person of a lawful right or privilege, he intentionally commits an unauthorized act under color of law, or he intentionally refrains from performing a duty imposed upon him by law.

17. Under RCW 42.20.040, every public officer who shall knowingly make any false statement in any official report or statement under circumstances not otherwise prohibited by law, shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

18. Under RCW 42.20.080, every officer or other person mentioned in RCW 42.20.070, who shall willfully disobey any provisions of law regulating his official conduct in cases other than those specified in said section, shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

19. Under RCW 42.20.100, whenever any duty is enjoined by law upon any public officer or other person holding any public trust or employment, their willful neglect to perform such duty, except where otherwise specifically provided for, shall be a misdemeanor.

III. QUESTIONS PRESENTED

20. Did C/O Geise sign and submit an official report claiming that a Unit 6 video tape showed me stealing store items? Yes.

21. Did Sgt. Clark claim to have viewed a Unit 6 video tape, and that such showed me stealing store items? Yes.

22. Did the Unit 6 video tape show me involved in stealing inmate store items? No.

23. Was the infraction and related reports written against me by Geise and Clark dismissed? Yes.

24. Are inmates Hinton #797740, Jones #940916, Brown #753085, and Jones #710049 all African American inmates?

25. Were all African American inmate store clerks/handlers whose hearings preceded mine found guilty? Yes.

26. Were all African American inmate store clerks/handlers whose hearings were held after my hearing found not guilty? Yes.

27. Did sgt. Penrose put Geise and Clark up to writing these infractions? Yes.

28. At the time of the thefts of store items, were there any Caucasian inmate store clerks/handlers employed in Unit 6? Yes.

29. Were all black inmate store workers fired and given disciplinary infractions for stealing store items? Yes.

30. Were all other ethnic minority Unit 6 inmate store clerks/handlers fired without receiving a disciplinary infraction? Yes.

31. Did the Grievance Coordinator refuse to process my grievance concerning the known false reports? Yes.

IV. ARGUMENTS

32. Prison officals deny me a comprehensive system of corrections that treats all offenders fairly without regard to race or national origin when they fired me (and all other African American inmate store workers) and gave us all infractions, while not giving other ethnic minority workers infractions, and while not firing caucasian workers, contrary to RCW 72.09.010 (pa. 11).

33. fundamental basic common sense (as well as DOC Policy 100.500 (pars. 12), RCW 72.09.010 (para. 11), RCW 9A.72.080 (para. 18), and RCW 42.20.040 (para.17) all require prison officials to investigate and make sure their reports are true and correct.

34. C/O Geise violated RCW 9A.80.010 (para. 16) and RCW 42.20.100 (para. 19) when he wrote and signed the infraction report claiming the Unit 6 video tape showed me stealing store items.

35. By claiming he personally witnessed a video tape recording that shows me stealing inmate store items (para. 4), Sgt. Clark issued a known false official report in violation of RCW 42.20.040 (para. 17).

36. I was fired as result of these false accusations. In making the false report that the Unit 6 video tape showed me stealing inmate store items, Sgt. Clark and C/O Geise, with intent to deprive me of my job, and deprive my right to being free of false disciplinary reports, issued the known false official report, in violation of RCW 9A.80.010(1) (para.16).

37. As shown in para. 33 above, Correctional Officers are required to make sure their official reports are reasonably true. By making the known false claim that Unit 6 video tapes showed me stealing inmate store items, without checking to see if such accusation was true or false, C/O Geise violated RCW 42.20.100 (para. 19) and RCW 42.20.080 (para. 18).

38. By refusing to act upon the known false reports made against myself and all other ethnic minorty inmate store workers, prison officials fail to identify employees whose performance is so inadequate as to warrant termination from state employment, in violation of RCW 43.01.125 (para. 14), and WAC 356-343-010 (para.13).

39. Because Sgt. Penrose orchestrated the known false official reports, he is equally guilty of committing all of the aforesaid violations.

40. By refusing to process my grievance (para..._, dave Snell covered up the aforesaid violations, and is therefore equally guilty of said violations.

V. CONCLUSION

41. Sgt. Penrose, Sgt. Clark, C/O Geise, and Dave Snell openly practiced racism, racial discrimination, racial harassment, and placed me in danger of harm, with impunity, for the apparent purpose of covering up that caucasian inmates may have stolen inmate store items, and in doing so, they violate the rules and regulations that govern staff actions, and commit several criminal law violations.

42. Each of the staff members involved should be identified and terminated from state employment.

_______________________
[SIGNATURE]
[ADDRESS]

You could start by sending your Administrative Complaint to the members of the state House of Representatives Committee on Prisons and Prisoners. In Washington these are:

Rep. Al O'brien
PO Box 40600
331 John L. O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
360 786 7928
obrien_al@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Jeannie Darneille
PO Box 40600
320 John L. O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
360 786 7974
darneille_je@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Tom Mielke
PO Box 40600
433 John L. O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
360 786 7850
mielke_th@leg.wa.gov

Rep. John Ahern
PO BOX 40600
440 John L. O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
360 786 7962
ahern_jo@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Ruth Kagi
PO Box 40600
304 John L O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
360 786 7910
kagi_ru@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Kirk Pearson
PO Box 40600
416 John L. O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
pearson_ki@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Velma Rosete Veloria
PO Box 40600
330 John L O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
360 786 7862
veloria_ve@leg.wa.gov

Greg Brown answers some questions about the creation and use of administrative complaints:

An administrative complaint is the most powerful type of complaint thati I have ever seen. And yes, they can be used by anyone for any reason, directed to any agency or official, whether it be on the federal level, state level, county or city. It all depends on what laws you claim were violated. If a city ordinance was violated then direct the complaint to city officials. If a complaint involves serious health conditions, it can go to the county health department as well as the state department of health and other officials, depending on which officials have jurisdiction over the subject-matter(s) raised. A complaint may often raise issues that invoke jurisdiction from multiple government agencies on different levels.

An administrative complaint is most effective when done by a non-prisoner, even if done on behalf of the prisoners. For instance, I would have someone do an administrative complaint on my behalf, and send it to his or her own state senator, state representative, and to other government officials. Complaints to state senators and representatives are most effective because you can phone the senator or representative to ask if they have gotten around to looking into the situation yet.

I feel that one of the most important things to remember is that administrative complaints should be used sparingly. I have only filed one on my behalf. In response, prison staff stayed out of my cell for three full years! Even when staff went down the tiers checking cells for extra towels, they skipped over our cell completely for three years. My three cellmates would ask me, "Man, Greg, what was that you filed?" Now that I have your help, I'm going to bombard the Department of Corrections with about 15 different administrative complaints.

An administrative complaint should only be done when one can show without question that a government official has violated the law. If the matter turns on a "judgment call" then it should not be done because prison officials literally "hate" them and there may be terrible repercussions. They hate them primarily because they risk going to jail for obstruction of justice if they lie to a senator or representative. They hate them also because they can go to jail for having been caught lying in official reports. I did an administrative complaint for a friend at Clallam Bay Correction Center (CBCC) and a state representative fired the CBCC grievance coordinator, a Sgt., and the I&I officer, not because of what they had done against the inmate, but because they all lied in response to my friend's grievance.

Prison superintendents often consider an inmate's central file as his "baby." It is what the superintendent uses to say, "This is the inmate." When somebody comes to the prison and says, "Who is this inmate?" the superintendent shoves the inmate's central file to the inquiring person. The most controversial writings submitted by inmates are not placed into that inmate's central file. For instance, if the inmate appeals an infraction by saying something like, "It is physically impossible for me to have done what the officer accuses me of doing," that appeal will not be put into the inmate's central file, although the denial of the appeal will be put into the central file. But if the inmate submits an appeal saying, "Yes I committed the infraction, but I think the sanction given by the hearings officer was too harsh," then the appeal will be put into the inmate's central file. This keeps everything nice and neat for the superintendent.

Having been submitted to an outside government agency, administrative complaints, by law, bounce off the agency, return to the prison, and become a permanent part of the inmate's central file. So now, when somebody comes to the prison asking, "Who is this inmate?" and the superintendent presents that inmate's central file, the inquirer reads all of the stories told by staff saying how much of a "trouble-maker" this inmate is. But in another section of the central file, there is the administrative complaint that proves at least one of the accusations against the inmate was entirely fabricated. That makes the reader kind of mad. The reader says, "Wait a minute. I just read about this over there, and it certainly looked like this inmate was a terrible person. But now I see that was a lie. I wonder if everything else that staff are saying are lies. I guess I can't trust anything said against this inmate." Suddenly, the superintendent can no longer say, "This is the inmate." Instead, the superintendent can only say, "I really don't know who this inmate is, since my staff tell false stories about him." The superintendent is not only totally embarassed, but he must fix the problem immediately, especially if the reading inquirer is a state senator or representative.

Another reason why they are so powerful is more obvious. Even though prosecuting attorneys do not want to prosecute prison officials, they almost have to. Taking the middle road, the prosecutor calls the prison and tells the official to "stop or else." The prison official stops. Often, the superintendent moves that prison official away from the inmate. And let's not forget that sate senators and representatives are required by law to report any crime that brought to their attention. This is all tremendous pressure that prison staff do not want. Usually, staff harassment starts as sport or recreation. The repercussions that flow from the filing of an administrative complaint is much, much more than the staff member bargained for. They back off and leave the inmate alone. But again, this only happens when the inmate clearly proves his point. If the inmate cannot absolutely prove his point, but instead wants an official to take his word over the word of staff, the administrative complaint may backfire. The government officials will not take him seriously and may not read anymore complaints submitted by that person. What's more is that prison officials already know this, and may intensify their harassment 1,000 times over. They may even try to kill the inmate. So one must be careful with these.

Choosing who to send an administrative complaint to can become an art. For instance, I did one for someone who was complaining that prison officials were not properly responding to his health problem. Because of the nature of his complaint, I sent a copy of the complaint to a state representative who used to be a nurse, and she turned out to be the most helpful of them all because she best understood the situation, even though she did not have any obvious jurisdiction over the complaint (she was not the person's representative, was not on the Corrections Committee, and the prison was not located in her district).

When i came up with the idea of starting a Prisoners Union, I had always intended for the Prisoners Union to have a "knock out" punch to counter/neutralize any prison officials who decide they are not going to go by the laws and rules that everybody else has to obey. This is the connection between the mass data base of grievances our Prisoners Union is building, and the official corruption section, etc. Anyone, particularly a representative of the Prisoners Union, can verify and analyze the actions of a corrupt Department of Corrections official; someone can then go over our grievance bank, see where staff said one thing over here and then said the opposite over there, file an administrative complaint, and "ouch!" Or someone can review the rules, go over grievances to see where staff failed to properly investigate or properly respond to those grievances, file an administrative complaint, and "wham!" One guy was telling me just yesterday that prison officials lied on him about having him on video tape doing something wrong. The hearings officer refused to review the video and still found him guilty. The hearings officer said the officer's claim that the inmate is on video is good enough! Wouldn't a complaint about this look so good sitting next to the above complaint we already have showing staff getting caught lying about having a video tape of the inmate's misconduct?

This is the type of stuff that is indispensable to correcting the Department of Corrections, and transforming it from the bottomless money-sucking pit that it is, into an agency that does what it was established to do, as efficiently and as effectively as possible.

Gregory T. Brown
March 4, 2005
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Public Information and Media Relations

2005-03-25T23:28:00.000-08:00

This link will take you to Washington Department of Corrections' procedures and regulations on public information and the media:

www.doc.wa.gov/Images/150100.pdf
http://www.doc.wa.gov/images/150100.pdf

Prison Mail and Phone

2005-03-25T23:03:00.000-08:00

Click here to go to USPS website
... Postal Inspector. You'll be asked to file a formal complaint using PS Form 2016, Mail Theft and Vandalism Complaint. By analyzing ... www.usps.com/websites/depart/inspect/tipthief.htm

Every day, the U.S. Postal Service safely and efficiently delivers millions of checks, money orders, credit cards and other valuable items. Unfortunately, such items of value are also attractive to thieves.
That's why Postal Inspectors across the country are at work to protect your mail. But with deliveries to more than 100 million addresses, the Postal Inspection Service can't do the job alone.
Here's what you can do to protect your mail from thieves:
Never send cash or coins in the mail. Use checks or money orders.
Promptly remove mail from your mailbox after delivery, especially if you're expecting checks, credit cards, or other negotiable items. If you won't be home when the items are expected, ask a trusted friend or neighbor to pick up your mail.
Have your local post office hold your mail while you're on vacation, or absent from your home for a long period of time.
If you don't receive a check or other valuable mail you're expecting, contact the issuing agency immediately.
If you change your address, immediately notify your post office and anyone with whom you do business via the mail.
Always deposit your mail in a mail slot at your local post office, or hand it to your letter carrier.
Consider starting a neighborhood watch program. By exchanging work and vacation schedules with trusted friends and neighbors, you can watch each other's mailboxes (as well as homes). If you observe a mail thief at work, call the local police immediately, and then your nearest Postal Inspector.
If you believe your mail was stolen, report it immediately to your local postmaster or nearest Postal Inspector. You'll be asked to file a formal complaint using PS Form 2016, Mail Theft and Vandalism Complaint. By analyzing information collected from the form, Postal Inspectors may determine whether your problem is isolated or part of a larger mail theft problem in your neighborhood--and it may help Inspectors locate and apprehend the thieves.
Consult with your local postmaster for the most up-to-date regulations on mailboxes, including the availability of locked centralized or curbside mailboxes.
If you have questions about crimes involving the mail, submit your questions on-line.
www.usps.com/websites/depart/inspect/tipthief.htm

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18 USC 1701. Obstruction of mails generally. Whoever knowingly and willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail, or any carrier or conveyance carrying the mail, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

18 USC 1702. Obstruction of correspondence. Whoever takes any letter, postal card, or package out of any post office or any authorized depository for mail matter, or from any letter or mail carrier, or which has been in any post office or authorized depository, or in the custody of any letter or mail carrier, before it has been delivered to the person to whom it was directed, with design to obstruct the correspondence, or to pry into the business or secrets of another, or opens, secretes, embezzles, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

18 USC 1703. Delay or destruction of mail or newspapers.

(a) Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, unlawfully secretes, destroys, detains, delays, or opens any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail entrusted to him or which shall come into his possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any carrier or other employee of the Postal Service, or forwarded through or delivered from any post office or station thereof established by authority of the Postmaster General or the Postal Service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(b) Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, improperly detains, delays, or destroys any newspaper, or permits any other person to detain, delay, or destroy the same, or opens, or permits any other person to open, any mail or package of newspapers not directed to the officer where he is employed; or
Whoever, without authority, opens, or destroys any mail or package of newspapers not directed to him, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

==========
From The DOMESTIC MAIL MANUAL, Section 115.97
Authorized personnel of prisons, jails, or other correctional institutions, in accordance with lawful rules and regulations, may open, examine, and censor mail addressed to an inmate of the institution, if the inmate-addressee consents to receive his mail at the institution through the institutional authorities. If the inmate does not consent, the personnel may either deliver the inmate's mail to the inmate unopened, or return it to the post office unopened marked, "Refused." An inmate may designate in writing an agent outside the institution to receive his mail either through an authorized address of the agent, if the mail is so addressed, or at the delivery post office serving the institution, if the mail is addressed to the inmate at the institution.
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Washington's Policy and Regulations on Prison Mail and Phone:

Chapter 137-48 WAC
INMATE MAIL AND COMMUNICATIONS
Last Update: 11/20/91
WAC SECTIONS
137-48-010
Purpose.
137-48-020
Definitions.
137-48-030
Inspection of mail.
137-48-040
Restriction of incoming and/or outgoing mail.
137-48-050
Procedures for restrictions of incoming and/or outgoing mail.
137-48-060
Mail costs.
137-48-070
Mail records.
137-48-080
Telephone usage.
137-48-090
Implementation.WAC 137-48-010 Purpose. The purpose of these rules is to maintain the safety, security, and discipline of adult prisons and prerelease facilities operated under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections in accordance with Title 72 RCW et al., by establishing guidelines for the development of departmental, division, and institution level policies and rules governing the receipt and sending of mail by inmates to prevent the transmission of illegal items or contraband into or out of an institution. These rules shall not apply to work release facilities under the jurisdiction of the department.[91-23-103, § 137-48-010, filed 11/20/91, effective 1/1/92. Statutory Authority: RCW 72.08.380, 72.09.050 and 72.12.140. 83-20-036 (Order 83-09), § 137-48-010, filed 9/27/83.]NOTES: Reviser's note: Under RCW 34.05.030 (1)(c), as amended by section 103, chapter 288, Laws of 1988, the above section was not adopted under the Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 34.05 RCW, but was published in the Washington State Register and codified into the Washington Administrative Code exactly as shown by the agency filing with history notes added by the code reviser's office.WAC 137-48-020 Definitions. (1) "Contraband" consists of all illegal items, explosives, instruments which if used may cause bodily harm to the person of another, weapons, deadly weapons, alcoholic beverages, and drugs, or controlled substances as defined by chapter 69.50 RCW. Contraband also includes any item that is controlled, limited, or prohibited on the grounds or within the secure perimeter of a correctional facility as defined by departmental, division, or institutional regulation and approved by the secretary of the department, or the division director/designee. (2) "Disposable income" funds in an inmate's trust account from any source, which are not frozen or debited by application of (LFO) legal financial obligations or disciplinary/administrative restitution mandates. (3) "Division director" the director of community corrections or prisons or his/her designee(s). (4) "Emergency situations" are critical illnesses, deaths, or similar situations experienced by members of the inmate's family or the inmate. (5) "Illegal items" are controlled substances as defined and listed in chapter 69.50 RCW or any weapon, firearm, or any instrument which, if used, could produce serious bodily injury to the person of another. (6) "Indigent inmate" an inmate who has less than a ten-dollar balance of disposable income in his/her trust fund account on the day of the postage request and during the seven days preceding the postage request; except that: (a) An inmate who has received at least twenty dollars cumulative from any source(s) shall not be considered indigent for thirty days following the accumulation of the twenty dollars unless the disposable income account balance is reduced to less than ten dollars by mandatory LFO, disciplinary sanction, or other mandatory administrative process; or (b) An inmate who receives a lump sum of five hundred dollars or more from any source shall not be considered indigent for a period of six months from the date of receipt of the five hundred dollars unless the disposable income account balance is reduced to less than ten dollars by application of LFO obligations, a disciplinary sanction, or any legislative or administratively mandated requirements. (7) "Inspection of mail" the physical act of opening, touching, smelling, and/or reading of mail, the use of mechanical or chemical systems and/or the use of animals to determine the presence of contraband or illegal items. (8) "Legal mail" is correspondence to or from courts and court staff (judges, clerks of the court, judicial law clerks, etc.), attorneys and persons working for attorneys and to established groups involved in the representation of inmates in judicial proceedings (ACLU, legal services groups, etc.). Legal mail may also be mail to or from any local, county, state, or national, or foreign governmental agency, executive or legislative body, and/or any person representing such agency or body in an official capacity.
Note:
To be considered and therefore handled as "legal mail" the correspondence must be clearly marked "legal mail" on the outside front of the envelope. (9) "Letters" consist of handwritten/typed communications and/or written/pictorial enclosures to and from inmates. A standard first class, one ounce letter shall be consistent with the dimensions, weight, and thickness as prescribed by the United States Postal Service. A properly addressed and stamped post card or greeting card shall be processed with the same standards as described above for a first class one ounce letter. Nonstandard first class mail requires a surcharge as established by the United States Postal Service. (10) "Mail" consists of letters, publications, or packages delivered by the United States Post Office or by other established and authorized carriers. (11) "Packages" a wrapped or boxed object; a parcel or bundle containing one or more objects, a container in which something is packed for storage or transport or mailing. (12) "Publications" consists of reproduced handwritten or typed/printed or pictorial materials including books, periodicals, newspapers, and pamphlets. (13) "Return address" for an inmate this includes the full committed name, and may include any other legal name, DOC number, housing assignment, and the full name of the correctional facility from which the correspondence is mailed. For a free citizen this includes a reasonable return address as recognized by the United States Postal Service. (14) "Secretary" is the secretary of the department of corrections or his/her designee(s). (15) "Superintendent" means the superintendent of a correctional facility or his/her designee(s).[91-23-103, § 137-48-020, filed 11/20/91, effective 1/1/92. Statutory Authority: RCW 72.09.050, 72.08.103, 72.13.080 and 72.15.040. 84-08-011 (Order 84-04), § 137-48-020, filed 3/26/84. Statutory Authority: RCW 72.08.380, 72.09.050 and 72.12.140. 83-20-036 (Order 83-09), § 137-48-020, filed 9/27/83. Formerly WAC 275-96-005.]NOTES: Reviser's note: Under RCW 34.05.030 (1)(c), as amended by section 103, chapter 288, Laws of 1988, the above section was not adopted under the Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 34.05 RCW, but was published in the Washington State Register and codified into the Washington Administrative Code exactly as shown by the agency filing with history notes added by the code reviser's office.WAC 137-48-030 Inspection of mail. (1) All mail intended for or to be sent by an inmate, excluding legal mail discussed in subsection (3) of this section, may be inspected at any time by the superintendent or his/her designee(s). Mail may be disapproved for receipt or transmittal in accordance with WAC 137-48-040. (2) No person who inspects, or participates in the inspection, of an inmate's mail, shall disclose the contents except in the cause of his/her official duties. (3) Mail (incoming or outgoing) which is clearly identified on the outside of the envelope as legal mail, as defined in WAC 137-48-020, shall be inspected only in the presence of the inmate. Legal mail shall not be read without a search warrant but may be visually scanned in the presence of the inmate to verify legal mail status. (4) Mail containing illegal items or contraband shall be held and disposed of in accordance with the procedures set forth in chapter 137-36 WAC or as otherwise stated in this chapter.[91-23-103, § 137-48-030, filed 11/20/91, effective 1/1/92. Statutory Authority: RCW 72.08.380, 72.09.050 and 72.12.140. 83-20-036 (Order 83-09), § 137-48-030, filed 9/27/83.]NOTES: Reviser's note: Under RCW 34.05.030 (1)(c), as amended by section 103, chapter 288, Laws of 1988, the above section was not adopted under the Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 34.05 RCW, but was published in the Washington State Register and codified into the Washington Administrative Code exactly as shown by the agency filing with history notes added by the code reviser's office.WAC 137-48-040 Restriction of incoming and/or outgoing mail. (1) Incoming mail to inmates may be disapproved for receipt for any one of the following reasons: (a) The mail contains threats of physical harm against any person or threats of criminal activity. (b) The mail threatens blackmail or extortion. (c) The mail concerns sending contraband in or out of the institution. (d) The mail contains plans to escape. (e) The mail contains plans for activities in violation of institutional rules, such as riots. (f) The mail concerns plans for criminal activity. (g) The mail is in code. (h) The mail is in a foreign language, its contents are not understood by the reader, and attempts to have the letter interpreted have been unsuccessful. (i) The mail contains information which, if communicated, would create a risk of violence and/or physical harm. (j) The mail contains contraband. (k) The mail contains obscene or sexually explicit materials as defined in department policy and/or division directives. (l) Any mail or publication that is deemed to be a threat to legitimate penological objectives. (m) The mail advocates that any ethnic, racial, or religious group is inferior for any reason and makes such group an object of ridicule and scorn, and it may reasonably be thought to precipitate a violent confrontation between the recipient and a member or members of the target group. (2) Outgoing mail from inmates of institutions may be disapproved for mailing for any one of the following reasons: (a) For any one of the reasons set forth in WAC 137-48-040(1). (b) The mail is addressed to a minor whose parents or guardian have objected in writing to such correspondence. (c) An individual or their guardian who previously has been sent obscene or threatening mail by the inmate has complained or has asked that such mail not be received. (d) The mail solicits money or goods from a person or organization other than the immediate family of the inmate without the permission of the superintendent. The above provisions may not be construed to preclude the purchase of noncontraband goods or payment for such goods which have been approved by the superintendent or his/her designee. (e) The outside of the mail (envelope or package) does not contain a return address as defined in WAC 137-48-020. (3) No mail is to be restricted for the reason that it appeals to a particular ethnic, racial, or religious group, or that it contains critical opinions of departmental policy or departmental employees, unless the mail is also judged to be a threat to legitimate penological objectives. (4) In addition to those reasons cited in this section, packages sent either to or from an inmate are subject to the following restrictions: (a) An inmate may receive one gift package not to exceed fifteen pounds in weight on a quarterly basis. Quarterly periods shall consist of December through February, March through May, June through August, and September through November. Rules governing the contents of quarterly packages shall be developed specifically by each institutional superintendent and approved by the division director. The superintendent may allow exceptions from the one gift package limitation and weight limitation provided that appropriate contraband controls are maintained. (b) The contents of the quarterly package shall be restricted to those items that are otherwise not available to the inmate through the institutional store or other purchasing outlet provided by the institution. A replacement package may be sent during the same quarter for damaged packages that are returned to the sender by the inmate. Packages containing contraband shall be refused delivery to the inmate and will be counted as the package for that quarter. (c) Prepaid merchandise approved by the superintendent and ordered by the inmate from any wholesaler or retailer shall not be considered one of the quarterly packages. (d) Inmates may mail packages containing materials which have been sent to him or her in the institution or gifts consisting of his or her own hobby craft or curio work. Packages must be made and mailed at the inmate's expense. (e) Newly admitted inmates at any department of corrections operated reception center will not receive packages while assigned to the reception center.[91-23-103, § 137-48-040, filed 11/20/91, effective 1/1/92. Statutory Authority: RCW 72.01.090. 86-21-058 (Order 86-06), § 137-48-040, filed 10/14/86. Statutory Authority: RCW 72.08.380, 72.09.050 and 72.12.140. 83-20-036 (Order 83-09), § 137-48-040, filed 9/27/83. Formerly WAC 275-96-021 and 275-96-022.]NOTES: Reviser's note: Under RCW 34.05.030 (1)(c), as amended by section 103, chapter 288, Laws of 1988, the above section was not adopted under the Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 34.05 RCW, but was published in the Washington State Register and codified into the Washington Administrative Code exactly as shown by the agency filing with history notes added by the code reviser's office.WAC 137-48-050 Procedures for restrictions of incoming and/or outgoing mail. (1) If an inmate's incoming or outgoing mail is restricted, written notification will be provided to the inmate by the mailroom staff. This notification shall be provided to the inmate and the sender of the specific publication, letter, or package which has been restricted and the reason for this action. The notice shall contain notification to the inmate that the restriction becomes final within ten days of the initial notice. The superintendent or his/her designee shall review the restriction within the ten-day period of time and shall either uphold the restriction, or allow for the delivery of the mail. (2) The inmate and sender shall be advised in writing of his/her right to seek review of the decision to restrict his/her mail. The review shall be sought by writing directly to the director, division of community corrections or prisons within ten calendar days. (3) Upon receipt of an inmate's and/or sender's appeal, the director of community corrections or prisons or his/her designee shall affirm or reverse the action taken at the institution level and shall advise the inmate and sender in writing of this action within ten working days from the receipt of the inmate's or sender's written request. (4) When a decision is rendered regarding a particular issue of a publication, that decision shall be binding for all facilities in the respective correctional division. A division-wide notification shall be promptly issued from the office of the director when the decision is rendered. (5) If a package contains contraband and is subject to criminal prosecution, the entire package will be turned over to the appropriate law enforcement agency. Items of contraband not subject to criminal prosecution will be disposed of in accordance with procedures set forth in departmental, division, and facility regulations as authorized by chapter 137-36 WAC.[91-23-103, § 137-48-050, filed 11/20/91, effective 1/1/92. Statutory Authority: RCW 72.08.380, 72.09.050 and 72.12.140. 83-20-036 (Order 83-09), § 137-48-050, filed 9/27/83. Formerly WAC 275-96-070.]NOTES: Reviser's note: Under RCW 34.05.030 (1)(c), as amended by section 103, chapter 288, Laws of 1988, the above section was not adopted under the Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 34.05 RCW, but was published in the Washington State Register and codified into the Washington Administrative Code exactly as shown by the agency filing with history notes added by the code reviser's office.WAC 137-48-060 Mail costs. (1) Except as otherwise stated in this section, mail costs shall be the responsibility of the inmate. (2) Mail which arrives at the institution with postage due may, at the option of the superintendent, be delivered to the inmate. The institution may pay the postage due in accordance with subsection (3) of this section, or hold the mail for a reasonable period of time so as to allow the inmate to arrange for payment of the postage due. If such arrangements are not made within the time provided, the package/mail may be donated to charity or discarded. (3) Indigent inmates shall be authorized to receive postage equivalent to the mailing cost of ten standard, one ounce, first class letters per week. This indigent postage provision shall cover both legal and/or regular letters regardless of the number of letters identified as legal mail. (4) Any expenditures made by the institution for postage due on incoming mail and/or indigent postage for letters, (as identified in subsection (3) of this section) may be recouped by the institution whenever such indigent inmate has ten dollars or more of disposable income in his/her trust fund account.[91-23-103, § 137-48-060, filed 11/20/91, effective 1/1/92. Statutory Authority: RCW 72.09.050, 72.08.103, 72.13.080 and 72.15.040. 84-08-011 (Order 84-04), § 137-48-060, filed 3/26/84. Statutory Authority: RCW 72.08.380, 72.09.050 and 72.12.140. 83-20-036 (Order 83-09), § 137-48-060, filed 9/27/83. Formerly WAC 275-96-060.]NOTES: Reviser's note: Under RCW 34.05.030 (1)(c), as amended by section 103, chapter 288, Laws of 1988, the above section was not adopted under the Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 34.05 RCW, but was published in the Washington State Register and codified into the Washington Administrative Code exactly as shown by the agency filing with history notes added by the code reviser's office.WAC 137-48-070 Mail records. The institution superintendent or his/her designee(s) shall be responsible for the maintenance of a continuous record showing the source and destination of legal mail, packages and items of monetary value mailed by or mailed to an inmate. The secretary shall establish procedures for each institution governing the written mail record.[91-23-103, § 137-48-070, filed 11/20/91, effective 1/1/92. Statutory Authority: RCW 72.08.380, 72.09.050 and 72.12.140. 83-20-036 (Order 83-09), § 137-48-070, filed 9/27/83.]NOTES: Reviser's note: Under RCW 34.05.030 (1)(c), as amended by section 103, chapter 288, Laws of 1988, the above section was not adopted under the Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 34.05 RCW, but was published in the Washington State Register and codified into the Washington Administrative Code exactly as shown by the agency filing with history notes added by the code reviser's office.WAC 137-48-080 Telephone usage. (1) Telephone facilities shall be provided in appropriate numbers and locations to permit reasonable and equitable access to all inmates, except inmates of the reception center and those inmates in disciplinary segregation. (2) The superintendent shall promulgate written regulations providing for access of inmates to additional telephone facilities in emergency situations. (3) The superintendent shall promulgate written regulations outlining the hours of telephone availability, maximum length of calls (not less than five minutes), limitations on telephone use, and provisions for monitoring, recording, and operator-announced calls as provided for in RCW 9.73.145.[91-23-103, § 137-48-080, filed 11/20/91, effective 1/1/92. Statutory Authority: RCW 72.08.380, 72.09.050 and 72.12.140. 83-20-036 (Order 83-09), § 137-48-080, filed 9/27/83. Formerly WAC 275-96-065.]NOTES: Reviser's note: Under RCW 34.05.030 (1)(c), as amended by section 103, chapter 288, Laws of 1988, the above section was not adopted under the Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 34.05 RCW, but was published in the Washington State Register and codified into the Washington Administrative Code exactly as shown by the agency filing with history notes added by the code reviser's office.WAC 137-48-090 Implementation. The secretary may adopt rules and regulations implementing this chapter.[Statutory Authority: RCW 72.08.380, 72.09.050 and 72.12.140. 83-20-036 (Order 83-09), § 137-48-090, filed 9/27/83.]

(Click here to read complete on internet)

Interstate Corrections Compact

2005-03-25T22:52:00.000-08:00

LINK TO Washington Interstate Corrections Compact

http://www.leg.wa.gov/rcw/index.cfm?fuseaction=chapter&chapter=72.74&RequestTimeout=500

Prisoners' Religious Rights

2005-03-25T22:35:00.000-08:00

Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000Public Law 106-274, 114 Stat. 803, 42 U.S.C. 2000cc et seq.
Contents
Section 1. Short Title
Section 2. Protection of Land Use As Religious Exercise
Section 3. Protection of Religious Exercise of Institutionalized Persons
Section 4. Judicial Relief
Section 5. Rules of Construction
Section 6. Establishment Clause Unaffected
Section 7. Amendments to Religious Freedom Restoration Act
Section 8. Definitions An ActTo protect religious liberty, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the "Religious Land Use and
Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000".

SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF LAND USE AS RELIGIOUS EXERCISE. (a) Substantial Burdens.--
(1) General rule.--No government shall impose or implement a
land use regulation in a manner that imposes a substantial
burden on the religious exercise of a person, including a
religious assembly or institution, unless the government
demonstrates that imposition of the burden on that person,
assembly, or institution--
(A) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental
interest; and
(B) is the least restrictive means of furthering
that compelling governmental interest.
(2) Scope of application.--This subsection applies in any
case in which--
(A) the substantial burden is imposed in a program
or activity that receives Federal financial assistance,
even if the burden results from a rule of general
applicability;
(B) the substantial burden affects, or removal of
that substantial burden would affect, commerce with
foreign nations, among the several States, or with
Indian tribes, even if the burden results from a rule of
general applicability; or
(C) the substantial burden is imposed in the
implementation of a land use regulation or system of
land use regulations, under which a government makes, or
has in place formal or informal procedures or practices
that permit the government to make, individualized
assessments of the proposed uses for the property
involved.

(b) Discrimination and Exclusion.--
(1) Equal terms.--No government shall impose or implement a
land use regulation in a manner that treats a religious assembly
or institution on less than equal terms with a nonreligious
assembly or institution.
(2) Nondiscrimination.--No government shall impose or
implement a land use regulation that discriminates against any
assembly or institution on the basis of religion or religious
denomination.
(3) Exclusions and limits.--No government shall impose or
implement a land use regulation that--
(A) totally excludes religious assemblies from a
jurisdiction; or
(B) unreasonably limits religious assemblies,
institutions, or structures within a jurisdiction.

SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF RELIGIOUS EXERCISE OF INSTITUTIONALIZED PERSONS. (a) General Rule.--No government shall impose a substantial burden
on the religious exercise of a person residing in or confined to an
institution, as defined in section 2 of the Civil Rights of
Institutionalized Persons Act (42 U.S.C. 1997), even if the burden
results from a rule of general applicability, unless the government
demonstrates that imposition of the burden on that person--
(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest;
and
(2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that
compelling governmental interest.

(b) Scope of Application.--This section applies in any case in
which--
(1) the substantial burden is imposed in a program or
activity that receives Federal financial assistance; or
(2) the substantial burden affects, or removal of that
substantial burden would affect, commerce with foreign nations,
among the several States, or with Indian tribes.

SEC. 4. JUDICIAL RELIEF. (a) Cause of Action.--A person may assert a violation of this Act as
a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding and obtain appropriate
relief against a government. Standing to assert a claim or defense under
this section shall be governed by the general rules of standing under
article III of the Constitution.
(b) Burden of Persuasion.--If a plaintiff produces prima facie
evidence to support a claim alleging a violation of the Free Exercise
Clause or a violation of section 2, the government shall bear the burden
of persuasion on any element of the claim, except that the plaintiff
shall bear the burden of persuasion on whether the law (including a
regulation) or government practice that is challenged by the claim
substantially burdens the plaintiff's exercise of religion.
(c) Full Faith and Credit.--Adjudication of a claim of a violation
of section 2 in a non-Federal forum shall not be entitled to full faith
and credit in a Federal court unless the claimant had a full and fair
adjudication of that claim in the non-Federal forum.
(d) Attorneys' Fees.--Section 722(b) of the Revised Statutes (42
U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended--
(1) by inserting "the Religious Land Use and
Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000," after "Religious
Freedom Restoration Act of 1993,"; and
(2) by striking the comma that follows a comma.

(e) Prisoners.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to amend or
repeal the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (including provisions of
law amended by that Act).
(f) Authority of United States To Enforce This Act.--The United
States may bring an action for injunctive or declaratory relief to
enforce compliance with this Act. Nothing in this subsection shall be
construed to deny, impair, or otherwise affect any right or authority of
the Attorney General, the United States, or any agency, officer, or
employee of the United States, acting under any law other than this
subsection, to institute or intervene in any proceeding.
(g) Limitation.--If the only jurisdictional basis for applying a
provision of this Act is a claim that a substantial burden by a
government on religious exercise affects, or that removal of that
substantial burden would affect, commerce with foreign nations, among
the several States, or with Indian tribes, the provision shall not apply
if the government demonstrates that all substantial burdens on, or the
removal of all substantial burdens from, similar religious exercise
throughout the Nation would not lead in the aggregate to a substantial
effect on commerce with foreign nations, among the several States, or
with Indian tribes.

SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. (a) Religious Belief Unaffected.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to authorize any government to burden any religious belief.
(b) Religious Exercise Not Regulated.--Nothing in this Act shall
create any basis for restricting or burdening religious exercise or for
claims against a religious organization including any religiously
affiliated school or university, not acting under color of law.
(c) Claims to Funding Unaffected.--Nothing in this Act shall create
or preclude a right of any religious organization to receive funding or
other assistance from a government, or of any person to receive
government funding for a religious activity, but this Act may require a
government to incur expenses in its own operations to avoid imposing a
substantial burden on religious exercise.
(d) Other Authority To Impose Conditions on Funding Unaffected.--
Nothing in this Act shall--
(1) authorize a government to regulate or affect, directly
or indirectly, the activities or policies of a person other than
a government as a condition of receiving funding or other
assistance; or
(2) restrict any authority that may exist under other law to
so regulate or affect, except as provided in this Act.

(e) Governmental Discretion in Alleviating Burdens on Religious
Exercise.--A government may avoid the preemptive force of any provision
of this Act by changing the policy or practice that results in a
substantial burden on religious exercise, by retaining the policy or
practice and exempting the substantially burdened religious exercise, by
providing exemptions from the policy or practice for applications that
substantially burden religious exercise, or by any other means that
eliminates the substantial burden.
(f) Effect on Other Law.--With respect to a claim brought under this
Act, proof that a substantial burden on a person's religious exercise
affects, or removal of that burden would affect, commerce with foreign
nations, among the several States, or with Indian tribes, shall not
establish any inference or presumption that Congress intends that any
religious exercise is, or is not, subject to any law other than this
Act.
(g) Broad Construction.--This Act shall be construed in favor of a
broad protection of religious exercise, to the maximum extent permitted
by the terms of this Act and the Constitution.
(h) No Preemption or Repeal.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed
to preempt State law, or repeal Federal law, that is equally as
protective of religious exercise as, or more protective of religious
exercise than, this Act.
(i) Severability.--If any provision of this Act or of an amendment
made by this Act, or any application of such provision to any person or
circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act,
the amendments made by this Act, and the application of the provision to
any other person or circumstance shall not be affected.

SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE UNAFFECTED. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, interpret, or in
any way address that portion of the first amendment to the Constitution
prohibiting laws respecting an establishment of religion (referred to in
this section as the ``Establishment Clause''). Granting government
funding, benefits, or exemptions, to the extent permissible under the
Establishment Clause, shall not constitute a violation of this Act. In
this section, the term ``granting'', used with respect to government
funding, benefits, or exemptions, does not include the denial of
government funding, benefits, or exemptions.

SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT. (a) Definitions.--Section 5 of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb-2) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking "a State, or a
subdivision of a State" and inserting "or of a covered
entity";
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking "term" and all that
follows through "includes" and inserting "term `covered
entity' means"; and
(3) in paragraph (4), by striking all after "means" and
inserting "religious exercise, as defined in section 8 of the
Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000.".

(b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 6(a) of the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb-3(a)) is amended by striking
"and State".

SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. In this Act:
(1) Claimant.--The term "claimant" means a person raising
a claim or defense under this Act.
(2) Demonstrates.--The term "demonstrates" means meets the
burdens of going forward with the evidence and of persuasion.
(3) Free exercise clause.--The term "Free Exercise Clause"
means that portion of the first amendment to the Constitution
that proscribes laws prohibiting the free exercise of religion.
(4) Government.--The term "government"--
(A) means--
(i) a State, county, municipality, or other
governmental entity created under the authority of
a State;
(ii) any branch, department, agency,
instrumentality, or official of an entity listed
in clause (i); and
(iii) any other person acting under color of
State law; and
(B) for the purposes of sections 4(b) and 5,
includes the United States, a branch, department,
agency, instrumentality, or official of the United
States, and any other person acting under color of
Federal law.
(5) Land use regulation.--The term "land use regulation"
means a zoning or landmarking law, or the application of such a
law, that limits or restricts a claimant's use or development of
land (including a structure affixed to land), if the claimant
has an ownership, leasehold, easement, servitude, or other
property interest in the regulated land or a contract or option
to acquire such an interest.
(6) Program or activity.--The term "program or activity"
means all of the operations of any entity as described in
paragraph (1) or (2) of section 606 of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d-4a).
(7) Religious exercise.--
(A) In general.--The term "religious exercise"
includes any exercise of religion, whether or not
compelled by, or central to, a system of religious
belief.
(B) Rule.--The use, building, or conversion of real
property for the purpose of religious exercise shall be
considered to be religious exercise of the person or
entity that uses or intends to use the property for that
purpose.

Approved September 22, 2000.

Your Rights to Information

2005-03-25T22:03:00.000-08:00

Public Disclosure
By Gregory Brown

Washington State Law on Public Disclosure

RCW 42.17.020 Definitions: (1) "Agency" includes all state and all local agencies. "State agency" includes every state office, department, divison, bureau, board, commission, or other state agency. "Local agency" includes municipal corporation, or special purpose district, or any office, department, division, bureau, board, commission, or agency thereof, or other local public agency.

RCW 42.17.270 Facilities for copying -- Availability of public records. Public records shall be available for inspection and copying, and agencies shall, upon request for identifiable public records, make them promptly available to any person. Agencies shall not distinguish among persons requesting records, and such person shall not be required to provide information as to the purpose for the request except to establish whether inspection and copying would violate RCW 42.17.260(5) or other statute which exempts or prohibits disclosure of specific information or records to certain persons. Agency facilities shall make available to any person for the copying of public records except when and to the extent that this would unreasonably disrupt the operations of the agency. Agencies shall honor requests received by mail for identifiable public records unless exempted by provisions of this chapter.

RCW 42.17.290 Protection of public records -- public access. Agencies shall adopt and enforce reasonable rules and regulations, and the office of the secretary of the senate and the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives shall adopt reasonable procedures allowing for the time, resource, and personnel constraints associated with legislative sessions, consonant with the intent of this chapter to provide full public access to public records, to protect public records from damage or disorganization, and to prevent excessive interference with other essential functions of the agency, the office of the secretary of the senate, or the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives. Such rules and regulations shall provide for the fullest assistance to inquiries and the most timely possible action on requests for infomation. Nothing in this section shall relieve agencies, the office of the secretary of the senate, and the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives from honoring requests received by mail for copies of identifiable public records.

If a public request is made at a time when such record exists but is scheduled fo destruction in the near future, the agency, the office of the secretary of the senate, or the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives shall retain possession of the record, and may not destroy or erase the record until the request is resolved.

RCW 42.17.325. Review of agency denial. Whenever a state agency concludes that a public record is exempt from disclosure and denies a person opportunity to inspect or copy a public record for that reason, the person may request the attorney general to review the matter. The attorney general shall provide the person with his or her written opinion on whether the record is exempt. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to establish an attorney-client relationship between the attorney general and a person making a request under this section.

RCW 42.17.340. Judicial review of agency actions. (1) Upon the motion of any person having been denied an opportunity to inspect or copy a public record by an agency, the Superior Court in the County in which a record is maintained may require the responsible agency to show cause why it has refused to allow inspection or copying of a specific public record or class of records. The burden of proof shall be on the agency to establish that refusal to permit public inspection and copying is in accordance with a statute that exempts or prohibits disclosure in whole or in part of specific information or records.

(2) Upon the motion of any person who believes that an agency has not made a reasonable estimate of the time that the agency requires to respond to a public record request, athe Superior Court in the county in which a record is maintained may require the responsible agency to show that the estimate it provided is reasonable. The burden of proof shall be on the agency to show that the estimate it provided is reasonable.

(3) Judicial review of all agency actions taken or challenged under RCW 42.17.250 through 42.17.320 shall be de novo. Courts shall take into account the policy of this chapter that free and open examination of public records is in the public interest, even though such examination may cause inconvenience or embarrassment to public officials or others. Courts may examine and record in camera in any proceeding brought under this section. The court may conduct a hearing based soley on affidavits.

(4) Any person who prevails against any agency in any action in the courts seeking the right to inspect or copy any public record or the right to receive a response to a public record request within a reasonable amount of time shall be awarded all costs, including reasonable attorney fees, incurred in connection with such legal action. In addition, it shall be within the discretion of the court to award such person an amount not less than five dollars and not to exceed one hundred dollars for each day that he was denied the right to inspect or copy said public record.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PUBLIC DISCLOSURE REQUEST [for Washington state]
RCW 42.17.270

Superintendent _________________________
[Name of institution]
[Street address]
[City, State, zip]

Dear _________________________________:

Pursuant to RCW 42.17.270 and the regulation promulgated thereunder, I hearby request access to the following public records:

_________________________________________________________________

D.O.C. Policy Directive 280.510 defines the term "Public Records" as "any written information related to the conduct of the department or the performance of its functions, which is prepared, owned, used or retained by the agency regardless of physical form or characteristics."

Under RCW 42.17.320, you are required to respond to this request within five (5) working days, by either: (a) providing the record, (b) acknowledging that the prison has received the request and providing reasonable estimate of the time the agency will require to respond to the request, or (c) denying the public dosclosure request.

RCW 42.17.320 requires that a written statement of the specific reasons must accompany any denials of such requests for public records made under RCW 42.17.270.

[ ] A check or money order in the amount of ________ has been enclosed to cover photo copying fees of the requested records.

[ ] A check or money order for photo copying fees will be provided when you or your reprsentative has informed me as to the amount of money required.

[PRINTED NAME]_____________________________ DOC# ________________

[MAILING ADDRESS] ________________________________________________

[SIGNATURE] ________________________________ [DATE} ________________

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN before me this _____ day of ________, 200 .

NOTARY PUBLIC in and for the State of Washington, residing in the County of_______________. My commission expires______________________ .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[The "Notary Public" part may be omitted. But for best results the request should be notarized, and sent by "return receipt requested mail." You could also copy the following RCW onto the back of the request if possible, or include it with the request:

RCW 42.17.320 Prompt response required. Responses to requests for public records shall be made promptly by agencies. Within five business days of receiving a public record request, an agency must respond by either (1) providing the record; (2) acknowledging that the agency has received the request and providing a reasonable estimate of the time the agency will require to respond to the request; or (3) denying the public record request. Additional time required to respond to a request may be based upon the need to clarify the intent of the request, to locate and assemble the information reuested, to notify third persons or agencies affected by the request, or to determine whether any of the information requested is exempt and that a denial should be made as to all or part of the request. In acknowledging receipt of a public record request that is unclear, an agency may ask the requestor to clarify what information the requestor is seeking. If the requestor fails to clarify the request, the agncy need not respond to it. Denials of request must be accompanied by a written statement of the specific reasons therefor. Agencies shall establish mechanisms for the most prompt possible review of decisions denying inspection, and such review shall be deemed completed at the end of the second business day following the denial of inspection and shall constitute final agency action for the purpose of judicial review.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE FOLLOWING FORMS can be used if you do not receive a satisfactory response

and your internal appeal is denied, and you want to submit it for judicial review:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[NAME AND NUMBER]
PRO SE PETITIONER
[INSTITUTION]
[STREET ADDRESS]
[CITY, STATE, ZIP]

SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE STATE OF WASHINGTON
__________________ COUNTY

[NAME]_________________________ ) No.
)
Petitioner ______________________, ) PETITION FOR PRODUCTION
) OF PUBLIC RECORD(S)
) AND MONETARY AWARD
-vs- )
)
[NAME], )
)
Respondent. )
______________________________ )

comes now YOUR PETITIONER, _________________________, APPEARING

PRO SE, and, pursuant to RCW 42.17.340, respectfully requests the Court issue an

order (1) directing respondent to provide him access to public records information, and

(2) directing respondents to pay Petitioner an amount determined to be appropriate by

the Court.

This motion is premised upon the attached affidavit and and exhibits of Petitioner.

Respectfully submitted this _____ day of ______________, 2___ .

__________________________________
[Name and number]
Pro Se Petitioner
[name of institution]
[Street address]
[City, state, zip]

PETITION FOR PRODUCTION
OF PUBLIC RECORD(S)
AND MONETARY AWARD

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE STATE OF WASHINGTON
_______________ COUNTY

[NAME] )
)
Petitioner, ) NO.
)
-vs- ) AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF
) PETITION FOR PRODUCTION
[NAME], ) OF PUBLIC RECORD(S)
) AND MONETARY AWARD
Respondent. )
_________________________________ )

[NAME]___________________, first being duly sworn on oath, says and deposes as

follows:

1. I am a citizen of the United States, and competent to be a witness herein;

2. I am the Petitioner in the above-entitled cause. And I make this affidavit in

support of my Petition for Production of Public Records and Monetary Award;

3. I am prisoner in the custody of the Washington State Department of Corrections,

and currently housed at the [INSTITUTION] ___________
[ADDRESS] _______________

4. On or about [DATE] , I submitted a request for disclosure of public records, to

[NAME], Superintendent of the [NAME OF INSTITUTION]. SEE Exhibit A.

5. My public disclosure request was mailed by first class certified mail with return

receipt requested, and was received by [NAME] [TITLE], on [DATE]. SEE Exhibit B.

6. Despite that RCW 42.17.320 states that government officials will respond to my

public disclosure request within five (5) working days, I have, to date, not received any

response whatsoever to my public disclosure request.

7. I believe the law entitles me access to said public records, and that the Court, in

the interest of justice, should order Respondent to provide me access to said public

records;

8. I need access to the aforesaid public records in order to demonstrate that I am

being unlawfully treated and denied liberty. Each day that I am denied these public

records is another day that I suffer irreparable harm. I therefore should be entitled to

one hundred dollars for each day that Respondent has denied me, and continues to

deny me, access to the aforesaid public records.

I declare under penalty of perjury, that the foregoing and its contents are true and

correct to the very best of my knowledge and belief. I have read and signed this

affidavit on this _____ day of __________, 2___

_____________________________________
[NAME AND NUMBER]
Pro Se Petitioner
[INSTITUTION]
[STREET ADDRESS]
[CITY, STATE, ZIP]

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me on this ______ day of ________, 2___

______________________________
NOTARY PUBLIC in and for the state of
Washington, residing in ___________
County. My commission expires ______.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE STATE OF WASHINGTON
_______________ COUNTY

[NAME], )
) NO.
PETITIONER, )
) NOTICE OF MOTION
-vs- ) ( [date] )
)
[NAME], )
)
Respondent. )
_____________________________ )

TO: CLERK OF THE COURT
AND TO: COUNSEL FOR RESPONDENT

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the Petitioner, [YOUR NAME], appearing PRO SE, on

[DATE ], shall bring on for hearing his Petition for Production of Public Records and

Monetary Award, without oral argument, and the Clerk of the Court is requested to note

this cause on the motion docket for that day.

______________________________________
[NAME AND NUMBER]
Pro Se Petitioner
[INSTITUTION]
[STREET ADDRESS]
[CITY, STATE, ZIP]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE STATE OF WASHINGTON
_______________ COUNTY

[NAME] )
) NO.
Petitioner, )
) AFFIDAVIT OF SERVICE
-vs- ) BY MAILING
)
[NAME}, )
)
Respondent. )
______________________________ )

[YOUR NAME], first being duly sworn on oath, says and deposes as follows:

1. I am a citizen of the United States, and competent to be a witness herein;

2. On the _______ day of ___________, 2___, I deposited in the U.S. mail,

postage prepaid, addressed as follows:

[NAME OF ATTORNEY GENERAL]
Attorney General
Criminal Justice Division
P.O. Box 40116
Olympia, WA 98504-0116

copies of the following documents entitled in the above cause:

PETITIONER'S MOTION FOR PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC RECORD(S); AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER'S MOTION FOR PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC RECORD(S); NOTICE OF MOTION; and AFFIDAVIT OF SERVICE BY MAILING.

I declare under penalty of perjury, that the foregoing and its contents are true and correct to the very best of my knowledge and belief. I have read and signed this affidavit on this _______ day of ___________, 2___

___________________________________
[NAME AND NUMBER]
Pro Se Petitioner
[INSTITUTION]
[STREET ADDRESS]
[CITY, STATE, ZIP]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[DATE]

Clerk
___________ County Superior Court

______________, WA [zip]

RE: [YOUR NAME] v. [RESPONDENT'S NAME], et. al.,
Petition for Public Disclosure and Monetary Award

Dear Sir:

I am the Petitioner in the above-entitled cause. Please find enclose for filing, copies of the following documents: (a) Petition for Disclosure of Public Records and Monetary Award; (b) Affidavit in Support of Petition for Disclosure of Public Records and Monetary Award; (c) Public Disclosure Request dated __________________
(exhibit A); (d) Receipt for Certified Mail (exhibit B); (e) Affidavit of Service by Mailing; (e) Note for Motion Docket; and (f) the herein cover-letter.

Also find enclosed one EXTRA copy of items (a) thru (f) above, to be stamped and returned to me for my files.

Thank you for your time and attention given this matter.

________________________________
[NAME AND NUMBER]
Pro Se Petitioner
[INSTITUTION]
[STREET ADDRESS]
[CITY, STATE, ZIP]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Help Create A Prisoners Union

2005-03-25T21:40:00.000-08:00

Help Create A Prisoners Union
By Greg Brown

A PRISONERS UNION, for the first time in the state of Washington, is created outside of prison walls to advocate the rights of prison inmates, their families, and loved ones.

PRINCIPLES AND BELIEFS

WE BELIEVE that prison and Department of Corrections (DOC) officials have adopted policies and agendas contrary to public interest, which exaggerate security needs, inflate the costs of corrections, unduly oppress and, in some cases, torture and dehumanize prison inmates and jeopardize their physical and mental well-being, promote contempt for law, destroy families and ties with the community, increase the rate of recidivism, and place the general public at greater risk.

WE BELIEVE that improvements in prison conditions will dramatically reduce the rate of recidivism and the amount of money expended by the DOC, and make society a much better, safer place to live.

GOALS

TO PROVIDE a voice for prison inmates, their families and loved ones, in the process through which the laws and policies of the state of Washington are adopted; to educate the public in the facts, circumstances and conditions of confinement; to strengthen ties between inmates and members of the community, and provide housing and employment opportunities for newly-released prisoners; to encourage all communities to join hands in seeking to improve prison conditions, reduce the rate of recidivism, reduce the costs of corrections and eliminate official corruption and misconduct; to provide a medium through which prisoners and members of the public may seek mutually satisfactory resolution of issues of common interests, promote equity, fairness, and meaningful negotiation of problems to a just and fair conclusion; to keep administrators, legislators and the media informed of developing trends and specific problems that exist within the corrections system; to ensure that prison and DOC officials carry out their lawful duties, and promote adherence to federal and state standards; to lessen conflict between offenders and the DOC; and to ensure complaints that inmates are harassed or penalized for their lawful activities are properly investigated and meaningfully responded to.

FORMAT

Grievance Bank: Grievances written and appealed through all levels of the prison grievance process are posted on the internet for all the world to see. This enables us to identify, discourage and eliminate staff harassment, reprisals and other forms of official misconduct and abuse that occur within the corrections system; to educate members of the public regarding prison issues and conditions of confinement; and to promote consistency in official responses to common issues, enforce previously resolved issues and reduce the amount of tax dollars expended in the grievance system.

Anyone may post grievances by emailing a copy of the grievance and any supporting evidence (along with a waiver of confidentiality form signed by the person who wrote the grievance) to noneoftheabovenews@yahoo.com with "Gregory Brown" in the subject line; or by mailing these copies to Taxpayers for Prison Reform, ATTN: Gregory Brown, PO Box 595, Shelton, WA 98584-0595. (Click on "Help Filing Grievances" in the index bar at left.)

When funding or volunteer help becomes available, the Prisoners Union will be able to inform all Union members of similar grievances filed by other inmates (in a manner consistent with freedom of information and public disclosure laws, confidentiality and other security concerns) so the information can be used to support current grievances, to help assure that posted grievances are properly processed, investigated and responded to. This will make possible comparison of grievance responses and applicable laws, rules, regulations, policies and procedures, so as to identify any patterns of official misconduct and abuse.

Union Battle File: this section contains the laws, rules, regulations, policies and procedures that govern the actions of prison officials and the lives of the inmates, and the names, mailing addresses, telphone numbers and email addresses of prison and DOC officials, government agencies having jurisdiction over prison issues, legislators, media, investigative reporters, private community support groups, and many other such resources. Also included wil be step-by-step instructions on how to file powerful and effective complaints, with standardized forms to make doing so easy.

Activist Drive: Make personal contact with a representative of the Prisoners Union. Ask questions, make suggestions and receive full guidance in becoming an effective prisoners' rights advocate and activist! You may choose to work alone, or you may want to form or join a team of activists to address common issues. send an email to noneoftheabovenews@yahooo.com with "Gregory Brown" in the subject line; or write to Taxpayers for Prison Reform, ATTN: Gregory Brown, PO Box 595, Shelton WA 98584-0595 .

Voter Drive: Any citizen of the state of Washington may pledge support for the rights of prison inmates by mailing or emailing a message to the above addresses. Your name will be added to an ever-growing list of names as leverage for influencing local lawmakers on prison issues. Names, addresses, phone numbers and other personal information will not be divulged to anyone except local lawmakers.

Business Drive: Prison business ventures are the second largest money-making business in America. There are literally billions of dollars being made through providing for the needs of prison inmates. The Prisoners Union can serve as a medium for the families and friends of prisoners to cooperate in creating prison businesses, to provide for the needs of prison inmates in a way that is both profitable and consistent with the above goals and principles. Contact us for more information by email or postal mail, as above.

Official Corruption Expose: This section documents specific instances of official corruption that exist within the DOC. If you wish to write about your experiences with prison and/or DOC officials, send copies of your complaint, signed waiver of confidentiality, and any supporting documents to us. (Contact as above).

Personal Life Expose: don't believe those right-wing oppressionists who say prisons are like hotel resorts. This section consists of stories written by inmates describing the depraved conditions that exist within the prison system, their day-to-day trials and tribulations, and the seemingly insurmountable odds they are faced with. If you would like to share prison experiences, send them to us as above.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taxpayers for Prison Reform

2005-03-08T00:31:00.000-08:00

The state legislature itself has declared that INMATES AND MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ARE "OBLIGATED" TO AND "MUST" GET INVOLVED IN THE CORRECTIONS SYSTEM in order for the prison system to work as it is supposed to. See: RCW 72.09.010(5)(e).

Honor Your Obligation By Becoming a Taxpayers for Prison Reform Activist !

"A population of sheep will
surely beget a government
of wolves." Author unknown

Government officials have secretly adopted an agenda contrary to public interest. Help save our state now by holding our public officials accountable.

At a time when the neocon regime in Washington DC is blatantly squandering America's lives, fortune and sacred honor in the quagmire of the Iraq war, and when certain police officials have openly declared war on any citizen who reports police misconduct supported by seemingly irrefutable video-taped evidence - - this Department of Corrections anti-citizen agenda described below, shocking and twisted as it is, should not come as a great surprise. While the Department of Correction's (DOC's) stated public purpose is to create a smoothly operating system of corrections in which convicted law violators can correct their criminal behavior and return to society as productive, law-abiding citizens, the actual aim is exactly the opposite.

The problem is partly caused by the fact that prison officials are PENALIZED whenever they successfully carry out the DOC's stated agenda! Successful rehabilitation of convicted felons, and their reintegration into society is measured by the degree to which the rate of recidivism has decreased. However, decrease in the rate of recidivism in turn results in reduction in DOC funding, closure of prisons, reduction in the number of DOC jobs, and laid-off prison and DOC employees as no longer needed.

On the other hand, when DOC officials fail to perform in the best interests of the public, the rate of recidivism maintains or increases, and DOC officials are REWARDED with more DOC funding, more prison construction, and more DOC jobs. Obviously, there is no incentive for DOC officials to successfully rehabilitate prison inmates, whereas one need only look around to see that incentive to promote more crime, increase the rate of recidivism, keep more inmates confined for as long as possible, increase DOC funding, build ever more prisons, and hire even more prison and DOC employees has evidently become irresistable. Under the NEWLY ADOPTED SECRET DOC AGENDA, the lives and safety of innocent citizens are not as important as maintaining DOC JOBS. Innocent taxpayers have therefore become expendable!

It costs the state of Washington a minimum of $22,000 per year just to house one inmate. It is estimated that prison officials squander well over sixty million dollars per year in tax dollars, by recklessly extending the release dates of prison inmates for the sole purpose of maintaining their own jobs. This is accomplished through a totally unfair process known as the "Inmate Disciplinary Procedure" in which prison employees act as prosecutor, judge and jury, and the inmates forfeit thousands upon thousands of months of their rightfully earned "early release credits."
As eloquently stated by US Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, "Prison officials are under obvious pressure to resolve a disciplinary dispute in favor of the institution and their fellow employees ... It is the old siuational problem of the relationship between the keeper and the kept, a relationship that hardly is conducive to a truly adjudicatory performance." Cleaver v. Baxter, 474 U.S. 193, 204, 106 S. Ct. 496, 88 L. Ed. 2d 507 (1985).

The DOC has an equally abusive "administrative segregation" process in which thousands of inmates are held for many months and years without necessarily having done anything wrong, during which time they are categorically denied all possible "early release credits," with the same devastating effects on the state economy. Frequently the basis for this administrative action is solely that of rumor and speculation. Sometimes of course these rumors are started by prison guards, the Internal Investigators or the officials themselves.
In order to more fully appreciate the nature and seriousness of these issues, lets consider the following principles:

* [E]ven under the best forms of [government] those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operation, perverted it into tyranny. -Thomas Jefferson

* Mistreating prisoners makes them worse criminals. "Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law, it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy ..." Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 485, 48 S. Ct. 564, 575 (1926).

* The longer a person spends in prison, the harder it is for the inmate to become a law-abiding citizen. -The Moneychangers, by Arthur Hailey.

* Courts "ill equipped to deal with the increasingly urgent problems of prison administration and reform ... Running a prison is an inordinately difficult undertaking that requires expertise, planning, and the commitment of resources, all of which are peculiarly within the province of the legislative and executive branches of government." Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 85, 102 S. Ct. 2254, 96 L. Ed. 2d 64, 76 (1987).

* The Corrections Department cannot work the way it is supposed to work unless the tax-paying citizens get involved. SEE RCWs 72.09.010(5)(e), (6) and (8).

* Most inmates are not attorneys and are unable to use pencil and paper to stand up for their legal rights. Inmates that do stand up for their rights are harassed, threatened, intimidated, tortured by prison officials and often thereby silenced. SEE Koch v. Lewis, 96 F. Supp. 2d 949, 95 n.8 (d. Ariz. 2000).

* Prison officials in the state of Washington have a long history of fabricating reasons to impose sadistic and torturous conditions upon prison inmates. Hoptowit v. Rhay, 682 F. 2d 1237 (9th Cir. 1982); Tribble v. Gardner, 860 F. 2d 321 (9th Cir. 1988).

* Because "[p]rison officials are under obvious pressure to resolve a disciplinary dispute in favor of the institution and their fellow employees," the prison's grievances process, managed at every level by prison employees, does not work as it should.

* Routinely committing crimes and other indecencies against prison inmates, imposing laws that take away their money, property, and dignity, stripping them of their sanity, and manipulating them into thousands of dollars debt prior to their release from confinement naturally makes them more dangerous. To then use these dangerous men as tools for terrorizing and tricking citizens into paying more taxes, giving more funding to the DOC, and making tougher laws, perpetuates a vicious cycle of deception and destruction of human and fiscal resources and society as a whole.

* Being experts in penology, DOC officials are fully aware that their actions have destroyed the chances of inmates becoming law-abiding citizens, increased the rate of recidivism, and placed innocent taxpayers at further risk. Blindly trusting that DOC officials will do their jobs properly is illogical and unrealistic.

Considering the above circumstances and guiding principles, that DOC officials have adopted a secret agenda contrary to public interest should have been foreseen and averted by the very citizens whom the Legislature has declared "must" get involved in order to assure the DOC properly carries out its duties.

The state of Washington is on the verge of going bankrupt, and innocent tax-paying citizens are made to suffer greater financial hardships than ever, and are placed at greater risk of being victimized by repeat offenders as a result of the DOC's secret agenda.

Everyone should care about the way their tax dollars are being squandered by DOC officials. With help from the public, these problems can be corrected. If you are a concerned citizen able to give just one hour per week of your time, Taxpayers for Prison Reform will provide you the necessary tools and information to help eliminate official corruption, restore order, reduce the rate of recidivism, free up millions upon millions of tax dollars, and create a better, safer environment. You will not be asked for money, but only for your efforts in holding government officials accountable for their actions. We will teach you how to make government officials do their jobs properly, and will show you how to monitor progress so that you may measure the results of your efforts. And of course you will then be able to pass these civic skills on to fellow citizens.

To get involved, or to obtain more information, send an email to noneoftheabovenews@yahoo.com with "Taxpayers for Prison Reform" in the subject line; or write to Taxpayers for Prison Reform, PO Box 595, Shelton WA 98584-0595. (Much of our information is also applicable to other state DOCs, county and city jails, juvenile facilities and the federal prison system.) Those who respond will be put on our Taxpayers for Prison Reform emailing list. (In order to discontinue receipt of our updates, simply reply with "remove" in the subject line.)

RECOMMENDED WEBSITE: Prisoners Union
http://walterkarp.tripod.com/prisonersunion

The state legislature itself has declared that INMATES AND MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ARE "OBLIGATED" TO GET INVOLVED IN THE CORRECTIONS SYSTEM.See: RCW 72.09.010(5)(e).Honor Your Obligation By Becoming a Taxpayers for Prison Reform Activist !

How And When to Use an Administrative Complaint

2005-03-04T01:12:00.000-08:00

How to Make an Administrative Complaint
And Send It to Government Official(s)
By Gregory T. Brown

An "administrative complaint," as used here, is a written complaint addressed to one or more government officials, that is intended to bring about a specific result.

The administrative complaint has five basic components: Facts; Applicable Laws, Rules, Regulations, Policies and Procedures; Questions Presented; Arguments; and Conclusion. In the Facts section, state ALL ESSENTIAL DETAILS, attach a copy of all papers that will prove your claims, and number these attachments as exhibits. In the section entitled "Applicable Laws, Rules, Regulations, Policies and Procedures," quote word-for-word all applicable laws, rules, regulations, policies and procedures that are applicable to your complaint. In the "Questions Presented" section, identify the points that you must prove in order to prove your complaint, and state those points in the form of a question. (for example, "Did Corrections Officer Butt-Head falsify an official report?" Then answer that question, "Yes." In the "Argument" section, explain how the actions of prison officials violated the applicable laws, rules, regulations, policies and procedures. In the "Conclusion" section, briefly state how you want your complaint resolved.

You should send a cover-letter along with your complaint. Your cover-letter should list the documents being mailed to the official, and state how you want the official to proceed in getting to the bottom of your complaint (For example, if a phone call would prove your complaint then ask the official to make that phone call).

Here is an example of an actual Administrative Complaint. (Some of the people mentioned in it have since been transferred, demoted, etc.)

RE: Criminal Violations Routinely
Committed by Prison Officials

I. FACTS

1. I am an African American inmate confined in "close custody" at the Washington State Penitentiary ("WSP"). I was employed as store clerk/handler in Unit 6 until I, along with all other ethnic minority inmates, was fired after store items were stolen. All African American inmates were fired and given a disciplinary infraction. All other ethnic minorities were fired without disciplinary action. None of the caucasian inmate store clerk/handlers were fired or bothered in any way.

2. On or about September 4, 2004, second shift Sgt. Penrose verbally accused me of stealing store items while working as 3rd shift store clerk. He claimed the Unit 6 video tape recording showed me stealing, and he said he would have officers who work on the shift write an infraction. I then told Penrose that is not possible since I have not stolen anything. Thereafter I was fired.

3. On September 27, 2004 I received a major disciplinary infraction written by Corrections Officer Geise, and witnessed by Sgt. Clark. The infraction report states: "I/M Red, Kevin #998636 was observed communicating with inmates that obviously were involved with the theft of other inmate stores, and their direct theft of other inmate's store. As well, inmate Red was directly observed assisting these other inmates with selecting the stores to steal by placing the stores into a different area, to be picked up by the thieving inmates." SEE exhibit A.

4. In addition, Sgt. Clark wrote a separate statement that says, "After reviewing the video tapes from 0902-04 of the Unit Six Dayroom that were recorded during the inmate store call outs between the hours of 15:00 and 16:00, several obvious thefts of inmates store were noted. It appeared very clear to me, that several inmates conspired together to obtain store in manners that should be considered theft. The following inmates were involved: Red, Kevin #998636/ Hinto, James #797740/ Jones, Domico #940916/ Brown, Ronnie #753035. The following inmates, Jones, Derrick #710049 and Red, Kevin #998636 appeared to be giving direction to the others in all incidents that I observed on the video tapes. These two inmates appeared to be informing/directing the before mentioned inmates which store they should take. On the video all of these inmates mentioned in the memo, except I/M Red and I/M Jones, Derrick, were not allowed in the inmate store area. SEE exhibit B.

5. C/O Geise also said the thefts committed by myself and other Unit 6 African American inmate store clerks/handlers created tension between prison gang members.

6. On September 30, 2004, I went to a major disciplinary hearing chaired by Lieutenant Crews for the infraction. Two or three of the African American inmates who had the same infraction that I had, had their hearings before mine. They were all found guilty.

7. During my hearing, I argued with Lieutenant Crews and refused to settle for anything less than an independent review of the Unit 6 video tape. I insisted that I did not do anything wrong, and that Penrose, Clark and Geise are lying on me in order to cover up for Caucasian inmates. Lieutenant Crews then looked for the video and found out there was no video tape at all. The infraction was therefore dismissed. SEE exhibit C.

8. On October 4, 2004, I submitted grievance log I.D. no. 0420704 regarding the false infraction. However, the prison Grievance Coordinator (and fellow staff member) Dave Snell, returned my grievance to me and advised me to speak with my Unit Counselor or Unit Manager. SEE exhibit D.

9. On October 7, 2004 I sent a written request to speak with my Unit Counselor; however, he refuses to speak with me. SEE exhibit E.

II. APPLICABLE LAWS,
RULES AND REGULATIONS

10. Under OGO- , I may file a grievance concerning an incident for which a disciplinary infraction was issued, so long as that infraction was dismissed in its entirety. SEE exhibit F.

11. Under RCW 72.09.010(4), it is the intent of the Legislature to establish a comprehensive system of corrections for convicted law violators within the state of Washington to treat all offenders fairly and equitably without regard to race or national origin.

12. DOC Policy Directive 100.500(I) "prohibits discrimination or acting unfairly or illegally on the basis of national origin, race, color, ..." Section II states, "All applicable Federal and State laws, regulations, and Executive Orders regarding non-discrimination will be followed." Section III states, "The Department shall provide relief from any form of discrimination in the workplace and shall establish guidelines for reporting discrimination."

13. Under WAC 356-340010(1), prison officials may be suspended, demoted, dismissed, or have their salary reduced for neglect of duty, inefficiency, incompetence, insubordiantion, indolence, conviction of crime, malfeasance, gross misconduct, or willful violation of published employing agency or department of personnel rules of regulations.

14. Under RCW 43.01.125, "It is the responsibility of each agency head to institute management procedures designed to identify an agency employee, either supervisory or non-supervisory, whose performance is so inadequate as to warrant termination from state employment. In addition, it is the responsibility of each agency head to identify any employee supervisory official who has tolerated the continued employment of any employee under his or her supervision whose performance has warranted termination from state employment."

15. Under RCW 9A.80.010(1), a public servant is guilty of official misconduct if, with intention to obtain a benefit or to deprive another person of a lawful right or privilege, he intentionally commits an unauthorized act under color of law, or he intentionally refrains from performing a duty imposed upon him by law.

17. Under RCW 42.20.040, every public officer who shall knowingly make any false statement in any official report or statement under circumstances not otherwise prohibited by law, shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

18. Under RCW 42.20.080, every officer or other person mentioned in RCW 42.20.070, who shall willfully disobey any provisions of law regulating his official conduct in cases other than those specified in said section, shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

19. Under RCW 42.20.100, whenever any duty is enjoined by law upon any public officer or other person holding any public trust or employment, their willful neglect to perform such duty, except where otherwise specifically provided for, shall be a misdemeanor.

III. QUESTIONS PRESENTED

20. Did C/O Geise sign and submit an official report claiming that a Unit 6 video tape showed me stealing store items? Yes.

21. Did Sgt. Clark claim to have viewed a Unit 6 video tape, and that such showed me stealing store items? Yes.

22. Did the Unit 6 video tape show me involved in stealing inmate store items? No.

23. Was the infraction and related reports written against me by Geise and Clark dismissed? Yes.

24. Are inmates Hinton #797740, Jones #940916, Brown #753085, and Jones #710049 all African American inmates?

25. Were all African American inmate store clerks/handlers whose hearings preceded mine found guilty? Yes.

26. Were all African American inmate store clerks/handlers whose hearings were held after my hearing found not guilty? Yes.

27. Did sgt. Penrose put Geise and Clark up to writing these infractions? Yes.

28. At the time of the thefts of store items, were there any Caucasian inmate store clerks/handlers employed in Unit 6? Yes.

29. Were all black inmate store workers fired and given disciplinary infractions for stealing store items? Yes.

30. Were all other ethnic minority Unit 6 inmate store clerks/handlers fired without receiving a disciplinary infraction? Yes.

31. Did the Grievance Coordinator refuse to process my grievance concerning the known false reports? Yes.

IV. ARGUMENTS

32. Prison officals deny me a comprehensive system of corrections that treats all offenders fairly without regard to race or national origin when they fired me (and all other African American inmate store workers) and gave us all infractions, while not giving other ethnic minority workers infractions, and while not firing caucasian workers, contrary to RCW 72.09.010 (pa. 11).

33. fundamental basic common sense (as well as DOC Policy 100.500 (pars. 12), RCW 72.09.010 (para. 11), RCW 9A.72.080 (para. 18), and RCW 42.20.040 (para.17) all require prison officials to investigate and make sure their reports are true and correct.

34. C/O Geise violated RCW 9A.80.010 (para. 16) and RCW 42.20.100 (para. 19) when he wrote and signed the infraction report claiming the Unit 6 video tape showed me stealing store items.

35. By claiming he personally witnessed a video tape recording that shows me stealing inmate store items (para. 4), Sgt. Clark issued a known false official report in violation of RCW 42.20.040 (para. 17).

36. I was fired as result of these false accusations. In making the false report that the Unit 6 video tape showed me stealing inmate store items, Sgt. Clark and C/O Geise, with intent to deprive me of my job, and deprive my right to being free of false disciplinary reports, issued the known false official report, in violation of RCW 9A.80.010(1) (para.16).

37. As shown in para. 33 above, Correctional Officers are required to make sure their official reports are reasonably true. By making the known false claim that Unit 6 video tapes showed me stealing inmate store items, without checking to see if such accusation was true or false, C/O Geise violated RCW 42.20.100 (para. 19) and RCW 42.20.080 (para. 18).

38. By refusing to act upon the known false reports made against myself and all other ethnic minorty inmate store workers, prison officials fail to identify employees whose performance is so inadequate as to warrant termination from state employment, in violation of RCW 43.01.125 (para. 14), and WAC 356-343-010 (para.13).

39. Because Sgt. Penrose orchestrated the known false official reports, he is equally guilty of committing all of the aforesaid violations.

40. By refusing to process my grievance (para..._, dave Snell covered up the aforesaid violations, and is therefore equally guilty of said violations.

V. CONCLUSION

41. Sgt. Penrose, Sgt. Clark, C/O Geise, and Dave Snell openly practiced racism, racial discrimination, racial harassment, and placed me in danger of harm, with impunity, for the apparent purpose of covering up that caucasian inmates may have stolen inmate store items, and in doing so, they violate the rules and regulations that govern staff actions, and commit several criminal law violations.

42. Each of the staff members involved should be identified and terminated from state employment.

_______________________
[SIGNATURE]
[ADDRESS]

You could start by sending your Administrative Complaint to the members of the state House of Representatives Committee on Prisons and Prisoners. In Washington these are:

Rep. Al O'brien
PO Box 40600
331 John L. O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
360 786 7928
obrien_al@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Jeannie Darneille
PO Box 40600
320 John L. O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
360 786 7974
darneille_je@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Tom Mielke
PO Box 40600
433 John L. O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
360 786 7850
mielke_th@leg.wa.gov

Rep. John Ahern
PO BOX 40600
440 John L. O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
360 786 7962
ahern_jo@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Ruth Kagi
PO Box 40600
304 John L O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
360 786 7910
kagi_ru@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Kirk Pearson
PO Box 40600
416 John L. O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
pearson_ki@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Velma Rosete Veloria
PO Box 40600
330 John L O'Brien Bldg
Olympia WA 98504-0600
360 786 7862
veloria_ve@leg.wa.gov

Greg Brown answers some questions about the creation and use of administrative complaints:

An administrative complaint is the most powerful type of complaint thati I have ever seen. And yes, they can be used by anyone for any reason, directed to any agency or official, whether it be on the federal level, state level, county or city. It all depends on what laws you claim were violated. If a city ordinance was violated then direct the complaint to city officials. If a complaint involves serious health conditions, it can go to the county health department as well as the state department of health and other officials, depending on which officials have jurisdiction over the subject-matter(s) raised. A complaint may often raise issues that invoke jurisdiction from multiple government agencies on different levels.

An administrative complaint is most effective when done by a non-prisoner, even if done on behalf of the prisoners. For instance, I would have someone do an administrative complaint on my behalf, and send it to his or her own state senator, state representative, and to other government officials. Complaints to state senators and representatives are most effective because you can phone the senator or representative to ask if they have gotten around to looking into the situation yet.

I feel that one of the most important things to remember is that administrative complaints should be used sparingly. I have only filed one on my behalf. In response, prison staff stayed out of my cell for three full years! Even when staff went down the tiers checking cells for extra towels, they skipped over our cell completely for three years. My three cellmates would ask me, "Man, Greg, what was that you filed?" Now that I have your help, I'm going to bombard the Department of Corrections with about 15 different administrative complaints.

An administrative complaint should only be done when one can show without question that a government official has violated the law. If the matter turns on a "judgment call" then it should not be done because prison officials literally "hate" them and there may be terrible repercussions. They hate them primarily because they risk going to jail for obstruction of justice if they lie to a senator or representative. They hate them also because they can go to jail for having been caught lying in official reports. I did an administrative complaint for a friend at Clallam Bay Correction Center (CBCC) and a state representative fired the CBCC grievance coordinator, a Sgt., and the I&I officer, not because of what they had done against the inmate, but because they all lied in response to my friend's grievance.

Prison superintendents often consider an inmate's central file as his "baby." It is what the superintendent uses to say, "This is the inmate." When somebody comes to the prison and says, "Who is this inmate?" the superintendent shoves the inmate's central file to the inquiring person. The most controversial writings submitted by inmates are not placed into that inmate's central file. For instance, if the inmate appeals an infraction by saying something like, "It is physically impossible for me to have done what the officer accuses me of doing," that appeal will not be put into the inmate's central file, although the denial of the appeal will be put into the central file. But if the inmate submits an appeal saying, "Yes I committed the infraction, but I think the sanction given by the hearings officer was too harsh," then the appeal will be put into the inmate's central file. This keeps everything nice and neat for the superintendent.

Having been submitted to an outside government agency, administrative complaints, by law, bounce off the agency, return to the prison, and become a permanent part of the inmate's central file. So now, when somebody comes to the prison asking, "Who is this inmate?" and the superintendent presents that inmate's central file, the inquirer reads all of the stories told by staff saying how much of a "trouble-maker" this inmate is. But in another section of the central file, there is the administrative complaint that proves at least one of the accusations against the inmate was entirely fabricated. That makes the reader kind of mad. The reader says, "Wait a minute. I just read about this over there, and it certainly looked like this inmate was a terrible person. But now I see that was a lie. I wonder if everything else that staff are saying are lies. I guess I can't trust anything said against this inmate." Suddenly, the superintendent can no longer say, "This is the inmate." Instead, the superintendent can only say, "I really don't know who this inmate is, since my staff tell false stories about him." The superintendent is not only totally embarassed, but he must fix the problem immediately, especially if the reading inquirer is a state senator or representative.

Another reason why they are so powerful is more obvious. Even though prosecuting attorneys do not want to prosecute prison officials, they almost have to. Taking the middle road, the prosecutor calls the prison and tells the official to "stop or else." The prison official stops. Often, the superintendent moves that prison official away from the inmate. And let's not forget that sate senators and representatives are required by law to report any crime that brought to their attention. This is all tremendous pressure that prison staff do not want. Usually, staff harassment starts as sport or recreation. The repercussions that flow from the filing of an administrative complaint is much, much more than the staff member bargained for. They back off and leave the inmate alone. But again, this only happens when the inmate clearly proves his point. If the inmate cannot absolutely prove his point, but instead wants an official to take his word over the word of staff, the administrative complaint may backfire. The government officials will not take him seriously and may not read anymore complaints submitted by that person. What's more is that prison officials already know this, and may intensify their harassment 1,000 times over. They may even try to kill the inmate. So one must be careful with these.

Choosing who to send an administrative complaint to can become an art. For instance, I did one for someone who was complaining that prison officials were not properly responding to his health problem. Because of the nature of his complaint, I sent a copy of the complaint to a state representative who used to be a nurse, and she turned out to be the most helpful of them all because she best understood the situation, even though she did not have any obvious jurisdiction over the complaint (she was not the person's representative, was not on the Corrections Committee, and the prison was not located in her district).

When i came up with the idea of starting a Prisoners Union, I had always intended for the Prisoners Union to have a "knock out" punch to counter/neutralize any prison officials who decide they are not going to go by the laws and rules that everybody else has to obey. This is the connection between the mass data base of grievances our Prisoners Union is building, and the official corruption section, etc. Anyone, particularly a representative of the Prisoners Union, can verify and analyze the actions of a corrupt Department of Corrections official; someone can then go over our grievance bank, see where staff said one thing over here and then said the opposite over there, file an administrative complaint, and "ouch!" Or someone can review the rules, go over grievances to see where staff failed to properly investigate or properly respond to those grievances, file an administrative complaint, and "wham!" One guy was telling me just yesterday that prison officials lied on him about having him on video tape doing something wrong. The hearings officer refused to review the video and still found him guilty. The hearings officer said the officer's claim that the inmate is on video is good enough! Wouldn't a complaint about this look so good sitting next to the above complaint we already have showing staff getting caught lying about having a video tape of the inmate's misconduct?

This is the type of stuff that is indispensable to correcting the Department of Corrections, and transforming it from the bottomless money-sucking pit that it is, into an agency that does what it was established to do, as efficiently and as effectively as possible.

Gregory T. Brown
March 4, 2005
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