SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash — Under Governor Jay Inslee's order to reduce prison populations, the Washington Department of Corrections is releasing inmates in these three categories: commutation, rapid re-entry and work furlough.
According to the DOC, the goal of releasing a limited number of inmates to the community is to provide more physical distancing within the state's correctional facilities.
The DOC said the inmates who make up this list are not currently incarcerated for violent or sex offenses and nearing the end of their incarceration, which follows the Governor's criteria for releasing inmates.
In total, 92 inmates in DOC custody will be released to Spokane County. Of these inmates, 34 are on the commutation list and 58 are on the rapid release list.
"I think it's a lot of stress on the system in general when you have that many inmates being released into the community at one time," Spokane Police Department spokeswoman Julie Humphreys said.
The DOC's list of inmates is reviewed regularly and updated when there are changes.
Humphreys said there are concerns about plans for reintegration during the stay at home order.
"The follow up has to be in place--the supervision, the monitoring, support by families, drug testing, drug and alcohol rehab, jobs--which are scarce right now," Humphreys said. "Those systems have to be in place to equal success for someone coming out of the prison system."
The DOC told KREM 2 it is working to reintegrate released or transferred inmates back into the community by doing the following:
- transferring individuals to an established address
- assisting in enrollment for Medicaid if eligible
- providing a state identification
- a rapid reentry handbook
- employment expectations
As of Monday, the DOC has released nearly 500 inmates.
Spokane Co. Sheriff says property crime has gone up
Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said on Tuesday that property crime has gone up significantly.
According to Knezovich,commercial burglary is up 162 percent, robbery is up 68 percent and residential burglary is up 42 percent.
"COVID has victimized this community across the board. I think its time for us to not allow it to create more crime victims just in the sense of trying to release people from jail," Knezovich said.
He added that data from the community and patrol deputies will be used to target times, locations and known offenders of these crimes.