State might make Larch all-women prison

State officials are considering making the Larch Corrections Center in Clark County an all-women’s facility.

The state’s need to save money during the recession, with $1.9 billion in reduced income predicted in November, is at the core of the idea.

Larch, a minimum-security prison for men five miles east of Hockinson, opened in 1955 and is the third-oldest prison in Washington, custody Sgt. Steve Thompson said Wednesday. It has always been a men’s facility and currently has about 370 inmates.

Prison officials say an independent forecast calls for the state to need fewer prison beds in the future and it would make sense to close Pine Lodge Corrections Center for Women in Medical Lake, Washington’s only women’s prison east of the Cascade Mountains.

As early as next summer, the state could start transferring roughly 350 women inmates to Larch, 15314 N.E. Dole Valley Road.

If that comes to pass, male inmates at Larch would be transferred to another state prison, most likely Olympic Corrections Center near Forks, said Chad Lewis, a state Department of Corrections spokesman.

The state’s three prisons for women are near Shelton and near Gig Harbor, in addition to Pine Lodge, in the Spokane area.

Lewis said the idea to close Pine Lodge comes from Eldon Vail, who is the secretary of the DOC.

The state, with 15 prisons, has about 18,000 inmates.

Having a women’s prison at the 40-acre Larch site makes sense for another reason, Lewis said. The majority of women prisoners are from Western Washington, he said. And another prison in Western Washington might make it easier for family members to visit. Lewis said women with family connections are less likely to re-offend.

Larch is classified as a minimum-security prison. It can house about 400 men. The cost per offender per year is $22,531 compared to $37,301 for the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla, according to the DOC.

Larch has fewer staff members and medical costs tend to be lower than at Walla Walla, Lewis said.

Lewis noted that the idea to make Larch a women’s facility is “not a done deal.” He said the Legislature will be involved in the decision through drafting the state’s two-year budget.How did the discussion start?

“It was pretty clear that based on the fiscal constraints we’re going to be facing, that we need to close a facility,” said Dick Morgan, director of the DOC’s prisons division.

Pine Lodge includes some aging buildings that need costly renovations, he said, “so it became the most likely candidate.”

But Larch is being remodeled and updated, Lewis said.

By closing Pine Lodge, the state would save about $14 million over the next two years, Morgan said.

Although state lawmakers will have the final say, Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed billions of dollars in reduced spending over the next two years, forcing state agencies to find ways to wring that money from their budgets.

Pine Lodge superintendent Walker Morton said he’s urging staff at the minimum custody prison to try not to worry, that it’s just a proposal. If the prison closes, he said, he’s been told it wouldn’t be until February 2010.

“We just have to keep our eyes and ears open until the legislators do their thing,” he said.

Possibly closing Pine Lodge is only one facet of Gregoire’s proposed $125 million in savings at the Department of Corrections. And the agency isn’t alone; the Department of Social and Health Services is trying to figure out how to cut spending by nearly $1.3 billion; the Department of Health by $75 million.

Among the other changes proposed by the state Department of Corrections:

n Closing two units at the state penitentiary in Walla Walla.

n Cutting 40 staffers at DOC headquarters.

n Saving $3 million by cutting nurses and medications.

n Freezing all pay raises “until further notice.”

n Reducing or eliminating firearms training at some prisons.

“As you can tell from this list, the situation is serious,” Vail wrote in a memo to staffers Friday.

Gregoire has also proposed changes that would take 12,000 people off probation and cut probation staff by 400 people. Very sick prisoners would be released. Drug and property criminals who aren’t citizens would be deported.

And some drug offenders’ sentences would be shortened.

In addition, family and parenting programs for inmates would be cut, as would a “job hunter” program for inmates being released. Classes and drug treatment in prison would also be cut.

In another e-mail, Secretary Vail also said that lawmakers may make changes during the legislative session.

“At this time, no one can predict what our budget will look like when it is passed in April,” he wrote, “but the changes coming to the agency are likely to be significant.”