YAKIMA — Highlighting Ahtanum View Work Release facility’s benefit to the community and the hardships its possible closure would cause, members of the Washington Federation of State Employees union protested the Legislature’s proposal to shut down the facility in Yakima’s West Valley.
About three dozen union members staged a noon protest near Costco on Wednesday, holding signs and waving at honking vehicles to inform the community of a state Senate budget bill that closes re-entry centers across Eastern Washington.
“State employees are part of the community. We’re not a commodity, we’re not a line item on the budget,” said Micah Cooper, shop steward of the local state employees union.
The Yakima Valley protest coincided with rallies across the state, including hundreds of workers who eventually entered the state Capitol in Olympia to protest furloughs for state employees and other budget cuts to address the state’s $16 billion budget deficit.
Cooper and others, including WFSE statewide president Mike Yestramski, have criticized Gov. Bob Ferguson for proposing the furloughs and abandoning a proposed wealth tax to generate more state revenue.
“We’re looking at mandatory furloughs that would basically be a 5% salary reduction,” Cooper said. “It’s a disinvestment in rural Washington and in working families that will hurt the local economy.”
Cooper and others at Wednesday’s Union Gap protest said the proposed closure of the Ahtanum View facility and the Yakima Valley School would put hundreds of employees out of work. The Yakima Valley School in Selah is a residential center for people with disabilities, and provides respite and crisis care.
“Closures would mean the loss of several hundred good middle-class jobs. What’s going to replace that?” Cooper added.
Ahtanum View’s role
Protesters say closing the Ahtanum View Work Release facility at 2009 S. 64th Ave. in Yakima would hurt the ability of inmates who have served their corrections sentences to find jobs and re-enter society. About 40 people work there.
Employee Jaune Sonnier has seen numerous success stories among the 100 or more people who stay there each year.
She recalled a participant who went through the program nearly a decade ago who now works as a counselor at a local treatment center, with 8 or 9 years of sobriety. Others have overcome criminal records and substance abuse issues to own a local contracting business, work in the medical supplies field and become the general manager of a local glass company.
“Those are just a few of the ones that stick out in my mind,” Sonnier said. “We have plenty of other success stories as well.”
Sonnier said the Ahtanum View facility is the best solution to the issues of re-entry she has seen in her 11 years working there and 14 years of prior work as a chemical dependency counselor.
“Should AVWR, which serves an underserved population of Yakima County, close, you would see recidivism rates, deaths from addiction and homelessness rise to a heartbreaking degree,” she added.
By helping avoid those problems, keeping the center open makes financial sense, too, Sonnier said. She cited a study showing those housed in the state’s re-entry centers are 43% less like to recidivate, and by rejoining the local job force, these individuals put $3.82 back into the local economy for ever dollar spent on re-entry.
In a letter to local legislators — all of whom support keeping Ahtanum View open, she said — Sonnier wrote, “Please think about how these closures will hurt the community, families and individuals. This is not a solution, rather the creation of a problem with long-term consequences.”
Dufault opposes closure
Along with other Yakima Valley legislators, state Rep. Jeremie Dufault, R-Selah, is opposed to the closure of the Ahtanum View re-entry center.
“It’s very important that we have a re-entry process and making sure that former incarcerated people are able to become productive members of society if they choose to be,” Dufault told the Yakima Herald-Republic.
Dufault said he and other local lawmakers have tried to raise awareness of Ahtanum View and the Yakima Valley School.
As several protesters at Wednesday’s rally noted, the state’s budget plan could close all but one re-entry facility in Eastern Washington, leaving only the Wenatchee center open east of the Cascades. Facilities in the Yakima Valley, Tri-Cities and Spokane would be closed under the proposal.
“Why are so much of the cuts disproportionally coming from areas not represented by powerful Seattle Democrats?” Dufault asked.
Path forward
Democrats are currently negotiating the House and Senate’s budget proposals behind closed doors, Dufault said. Both versions call for the closure of Ahtanum View. The house proposal cuts Yakima Valley School, but the Senate version funds it.
The budget should be fleshed out by April 27, the last day of session.
“I won’t know until the majority party emerges from the room and says this is what we’ve agreed to,” Dufault said. He can then vote yes or no.
Individual bills that support the budget, like SB 5139, which would close Ahtanum View, and HB 1472, which would close Yakima Valley School, still need to be passed out of the house, Dufault said.
He could add amendments to those bills, like pushing back closures for a transition period or allowing new admissions at Yakima Valley School. New long-term residents have not been allowed at the school since 2017.
“I can propose ideas like that, and try to get traction from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for a more common sense resolution,” Dufault added.
