Long-serving Tacoma state legislator to resign seat to run women’s prisons
Jeannie Darneille is retiring from the Washington state Legislature in order to oversee the state’s women’s prisons, the Tacoma senator announced Tuesday morning.
Darneille, a Democrat who was first elected to the 27th Legislative District in 2000 as a representative, told Gov. Jay Inslee her resignation will be effective some time this fall.
Darneille will assume the newly created position of assistant secretary for the Women’s Prison Division in the state Department of Corrections.
A statement on Darneille’s website said she will focus on the needs of women incarcerated at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Purdy and the Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women in Belfair.
DOC Secretary Cheryl Strange called Darneille “... a leading voice for juvenile and criminal justice reforms in Washington State” in an announcement Tuesday. Darneille chairs and serves on several committees and task forces that address law and justice, incarceration, child welfare and homelessness.
“I ran for office because after almost 30 years of work experience in the nonprofit sector, I was very familiar with the issues facing the most marginalized people in our community, and I was determined to make a difference,” Darneille said in the statement.
When she ran for office in 2000, Darneille was serving as executive director of the Pierce County AIDS Foundation.
In 2012, she was elected to the state Senate.
The Pierce County Council will choose Darneille’s temporary replacement who will serve through the November 2022 election. The council will make the choice from a list of three names submitted by the district’s Democratic precinct committee officers.
This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 10:56 AM with the headline "Long-serving Tacoma state legislator to resign seat to run women’s prisons."
