“I don’t doubt one bit that I will hate this budget,” Gregoire said. “I will hate it more than the last one.”
Filling what is expected to be a $2 billion budget gap by the time lawmakers come to town on Nov. 28, will, indeed, be brutal and there will be plenty of things to hate about the budget reductions that are headed the public’s way.
But lawmakers must draw a line on public safety. Budget cuts that jeopardize residents in their homes and corrections officers behind the prison wall simply go too far.
Corrections Secretary Bernie Warner has warned that if his department is forced to take another 10 percent in budget cuts, he would have to reduce prison terms by up to four months for all inmates except sex offenders and people imprisoned for violent crimes.
Additionally, Warner said he would have to end state supervision for all convicts who have been released from prison – murderers and rapists included.
“Ten percent ... is about $160 million for the department. That has the potential to be pretty devastating to public safety,” Warner warned.
Do lawmakers really want to put public safety at risk? We certainly hope not.
The budget crisis looms like a dark cloud over Corrections employees, just like it does for people in other government offices.
“People are antsy. People are having a hard time,” said Dan Cochran, a community corrections officer who has worked 20 years in different roles at Corrections and now deals with about 30 offenders face-to-face in the Yelm area. “I do not think there is any more room to give.”
Just like other agencies of government, the Department of Corrections already has gone through a series of budget reductions. Warner, who was elevated to the top job this year after his predecessor left in a sex scandal, says the Department of Corrections has cut $250 million from its budget over the last 21/2 years. Included in those budget reductions were the closure of three prison facilities and 12,000 former convicts do not have supervision any longer.
The community corrections division still has 19,000 offenders to oversee. Those still under supervision have been imprisoned for violent and sex offenses, had previous violent convictions, or received special sentences requiring drug and mental health monitoring.
Under the 10 percent budget reduction plan, those 19,000 offenders would be free of supervision.
If the budget cuts occur as Warner has suggested, another 173 jobs would be eliminated at the Washington State Penitentiary. What does that do to officer safety?
We must not forget that officer Jayme Biendl, 34, of Granite Falls, was murdered on Jan. 29, at the Monroe Correctional Complex. Biendl, an eight-year veteran at Monroe, was the 2008 officer of the year.
We, as a state, simply cannot put additional Corrections officers in jeopardy because of low staffing levels.
We were pleased to see two state senators circulate an email to about 8,100 Department of Corrections employees, asking front-line staffers what is working and what needs fixing in the agency.
The agency has had several resignations, including those of former Secretary Eldon Vail and two assistants. Another high-ranking official has been reassigned while the Executive Ethics Board investigates allegations she ran nonprofit groups on state time.
The letter went out from Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee chairman Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, and Republican state Sen. Mike Carrell of Lakewood, who is on the committee.
Carrell said that with turmoil at the top and apparent ethics violations, “it is clear that the agency is somewhat troubled.”
Perhaps those front-line employees will have suggestions to streamline operations and save dollars.
Washington state cannot go down the path of handing out a raft of pink slips to Corrections officers, opening the prison gates early for thousands of inmates and ending community supervision of ex-cons.
It’s clear that a 10 percent cut in the Department of Corrections would put officers and the public at risk. Public safety must not be jeopardized in the quest to balance the state budget.
