Monday morning, as U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan told how federal prosecutors would go after Seattle criminals illegally using guns, she said there are repeat offenders and people released from prison are most likely to commit other crimes.
“We need strong supervision,” she said. “Unfortunately, one of the things that has been cut at the local level has been supervision.”
The Department of Corrections supervision caseload is the lowest it’s been in decades and last fall, for the first time in years,
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Monday morning, as U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan told how federal prosecutors would go after Seattle criminals illegally using guns, she said there are repeat offenders and people released from prison are most likely to commit other crimes.
“We need strong supervision,” she said. “Unfortunately, one of the things that has been cut at the local level has been supervision.”
The Department of Corrections supervision caseload is the lowest it’s been in decades and last fall, for the first time in years, the state’s prison population was roughly the same as the number of offenders being supervised in the community.
Senate bills passed to reduce costs and constraints caused by the state deficit are the cause.
“The Department of Corrections has been just a tremendous partner of state and local law enforcement and they have helped us in all of our efforts on gun crime,” Durkan said. “But as their dollars dwindle, supervision is one of the keys we have to make sure that people who commit violent crimes once released don’t commit other crimes.”
Corrections officers are now focused on high-risk offenders, agency spokesman Chad Lewis said Monday.
He noted that community corrections officers can have more personal interactions with the 35 to 40 violent offenders they supervise, where in previous years those officers might have supervised 300 or more offenders, including those convicted of non-violent crimes, making individual follow-up more difficult.
In 2002, the Department of Corrections supervised about 65,000 offenders statewide. But Senate Bill 5990, which was enacted in 2003, reduced that number to 28,000.
After two other legislative acts – Senate Bill 5288 passed in 2009 and 5891 passed last year – DOC now supervises about 17,000 offenders in the community.
Even before Gov. Chris Gregoire asked for further cuts last fall – something done of all state agencies – DOC had eliminated 1,200 positions, removed more than 12,000 offenders from supervision, closed three prisons and reduced exempt management positions by nearly nine percent, according to the agency.
It’s not right to say the increase in gun violence is caused by the number dropped from DOC supervision, Lewis said.
None of the recent shooting suspects have committed crimes while on DOC supervision and they wouldn’t have been even without the cuts, Lewis continued. Ian Stawicki, who killed five people May 30, was never watched by DOC officers because he had no Washington conviction history.
Still, some prosecutors and officers share concerns that offenders left unsupervised will commit further crimes.
Problems off supervision
“One of the things we seeing is the repeat offenders are increasing and we see that those who are released from prison are most likely to commit other crimes,” Durkan said Monday. “We have to have strong reentry programs dealing with those issues.”
Last October, a 22-year-old woman who had been out with friends stepped off a bus near Northgate Mall when police say William Akol ran and punched her in the face. He then partially unzipped the woman’s pants and raped her, according to court documents.
Akol, who has pleaded not guilty to a second-degree rape charge, would have been routinely monitored of not for state legislation passed earlier in the year that shortened his supervision requirements after he was released from prison, according to DOC.
Officers can’t assure they would have prevented the attack, but officers who had previously monitored him either daily or every other day said he made better choices while being supervised.
Another criminal who had his sentence cut short was Eric Evans.
In 1988, Evans beat a high school girl to death with a baseball bat, then giggled about it during the trial. He was sentenced to nearly 28 years imprisonment for the death of Teresa Arbini. But Evans served only 18 years, getting time off for good behavior as a result of the 2003 legislation.
Last October, Evans stabbed 84-yaer-old Ernie Tullis to death at an Interbay storage facility where Tullis worked. He left behind a loving family, including 16 grandchildren, and his wife of 32 years.
Homicide detectives tracked Evans while he was using Tullis’ credit card and found him near Fifth Avenue North and Denny Way. He was shot after police say he charged toward detectives and reached for one of their guns.
King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, who prosecuted Evans in 1988, said the shooting was “sad but not surprising to find out that he continued his violence against vulnerable victims upon his release from prison.”
Of the state’s current prison population, 97 percent are expected to eventually be released.
Better response to new punishment
Beginning June 1, a new law drastically changed the way Washington offenders are supervised.
Senate Bill 6204 shifted DOC toward swift and certain sanctions when offenders violate the terms of their supervision. Under the old model, an offender who failed to report to a community corrections officer might be verbally reprimeanded or be put in King County Jail where he’d wait for a DOC violation hearing. That could lead to 30 or 60 days confinement.
Under the model that began this month, the offender would immediately arrested for the same offense and spend two or three days in jail.
“The shorter confinement time means that he won’t lose the progress he’s made since he got out of prison and he won’t get to just hang out in jail, which some offenders prefer,” Lewis said.
“We’ll still conduct violation hearings for more serious violations, and now we’ll begin referring high-risk violations, such as firearm possession, to local prosecutors.”
The money saved on jail costs can be invested into programs shown to directly address criminal behavior and prevent recidivism.
A pilot project was launched in Seattle last year, and Lewis said a researcher from Pepperdine University found it to be highly successful at increasing offender compliance.
“In fact,” Lewis said, “even the offenders in the control group became more compliant because they realized that DOC will put them in jail for violations, no questions asked.”
Casey McNerthney can be reached at 206-448-8220 or at [email protected]. Follow Casey on Twitter at twitter.com/mcnerthney.