Sen. Warnick: We’re Not Doing Enough to Help Victims of Crime

A bill helping those incarcerated rehabilitate themselves passed the Senate Wednesday.

It now heads to the House for consideration.

S.B. 5219 aligns several partial confinement programs at the state Department of Corrections to allow a person to participate up to the final 18 months of their term in a release program instead of refinement.

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13th District State Senator Judy Warnick is concerned the Human Services Committee, where the bill passed through, is paying more attention to incarcerated individuals rather than the victims of crime.

"We're more concerned about our incarcerated folks getting out of jail, out of prison, than we are our victims," Senator Warnick said. "I'm concerned with the culture of our Human Services Committee this year helping more and more incarcerated folks."

Outside of Senator Warnick's concerns, the Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs along with the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys are concerned this bill does not have language allowing the Department of Corrections, who would be the agency overlooking re-entry programs, to have policy authority.

The bill says partial confinement is an exception for qualifying incarcerated people, referring to work release, home detention, work crew, electronic home monitoring, or a combination of programs for up to one year.

Certain incarcerated inedividuals may not qualify for transfer to partcial confinement, such as those with serious violent crimes or those with mandatory minimums.

Under the bill, work release would expand eligibility to allow incarcerated individuals up to the last 12 months in a work release facility, known as a re-entry center. It also allows participation in full-time or part-time employment at specialized programs, participation in vocational training or attendance at an accredited college. Only incarcerated individuals with minimum security status may be transferred to work release.

For graduated reentry, the program allows those eligible to spend the last 18 months of a person's term in home detention and must serve four-to-six months in confinement before eligibility applies.

There is also the Community Parenting Alternative, which expands eligibility for those incarcerated from 12 months to the final 18 months of their term on home detention in the community under restrictions including no serious violent or sex offenses, and must be a parent with legal custody of a minor with a sentence range greater than one year.