Every year the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) creates a report on the prison population in Washington State prisons as compared to other states. It provides some interesting reading and some things to think about. The report is as of September 30, 2014.

Washington has 12 prison facilities across the state, and 16 work release facilities. The operational capacity of our prisons is 16,764. The percentage of use of those available beds is 99.6%. The DOC does not rent out beds in other state’s prisons, but does rent some beds from local jails for prisoners.

The average age of offenders in confinement is 38 years old. 95.2% are male. 95% are U.S. citizens. 72.0% are white, 18.1% are black and 4.4% are American Indian. 12.5% are of Hispanic origin.

The break down of offenders by offense is as follows:
Murder 1 and 2 is 12.1%
Manslaughter is 1.8%
Sex crimes is 20.1%
Robbery is 9.9%
Assault is 23.9%
Property crimes is 18.9%
Drug crimes is 7.6%
All others is 5.7%

The average length of stay in prison for offenders released last year was about 24 months. 70% of persons in prison are there for violent offenses. Only 7.6% are for drug offenses.

By some measures, Washington has the distinction of being the highest in the nation when it comes to property crimes, even though by population, Washington is number 13. We are number 4 in auto theft crimes.

Our Governor has just announced what is called the Justice Reinvestment Proposal. This is aimed at the 18% of inmates serving sentences for property crimes. This proposal would eliminate any possibility of prison for repeat property offenders by changing the sentencing grid such that there would be no prison time for a theft offense no matter how many times a person had been previously convicted.

Some wise person said, “Nothing encourages evil more than forgiveness with no consequences.” This proposal would make it law. To say to thieves, it does not matter how much stealing you do, you will never go to prison, is a terrible idea. I hope this does not become law.