OLYMPIA, WA – Two facilities for incarcerated people transitioning out of prison are on the chopping block as Washington lawmakers look for ways to close the state’s multibillion-dollar budget shortfall.

In his final spending plan, former Gov. Jay Inslee proposed shuttering the reentry centers, located in Bellingham and Yakima, to save $10.5 million in the next two-year budget. The centers are running half-empty, so officials see an opportunity to right-size capacity.

But the state employees union and others have decried the proposal in recent weeks.

Speaking as a private citizen, the manager of the Bellingham reentry center, Vicky Neufeld, said it was a “total shock.”

Advocates say these Department of Corrections facilities, serving people in the final year of their prison sentences, provide a soft landing back into the outside world from their structured life in prison, allowing people time to get a job, go to school and secure services.

Jim Furchert, a community corrections officer based in Mount Vernon, notes for young people who have spent years in prison, this may be the first time they’re “adulting.”

“These folks are still inmates, but they’re in the community, they’re able to start building that life,” Furchert said. “They may be addressing mental health needs, they may be addressing chemical dependency needs or things that have been ordered by a court.”

In Bellingham, the reentry center has long partnered with Home Port Seafoods and others to get people jobs.

In a statement, the state’s new Corrections secretary said recommending the closures “is not easy.”

“Staff do incredible, life-changing work at every one of our 11 reentry centers across the state,” Tim Lang said. “But the reality is that the state faces a $12 billion budget deficit, and agencies across state government are having to make hard choices — hard choices that impact employees and the people we serve.”

The proposal comes as the Democratic-controlled Legislature has moved to offer incarcerated Washingtonians more opportunities for prison alternatives in an attempt to reduce recidivism.

For example, Senate Bill 5219 would allow people to serve the final 18 months of their sentence in a reentry center, up from the current 12 months. The legislation passed the state Senate on party lines last week and is now headed to the House.

“The reentry centers are really key to our future corrections policy,” said Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland. “They should remain open.”

The state is also trying to follow the example of Norway’s correctional system to improve conditions in prisons and reentry centers.

“They live a relatively normal life, even though they’re spending their nights in a prison facility,” Goodman said of Norway’s approach. “And that’s the idea, not to shock someone with reality in the outside world, having just been confined for a long time.”

Research has shown Washington’s work release facilities reduce recidivism and are more cost-effective than housing people in state prisons.

‘Fill that void’

The facilities are far from full. Statewide, of the 778 beds funded by the state in 11 reentry centers, about half were occupied earlier this month.

The Yakima reentry center, known as Ahtanum View, has 101 beds, with less than one-third occupied. In Bellingham, a little over half of the beds were taken.

Lang attributed the empty space partially to the state Supreme Court’s Blake decision in 2021 that found the state’s felony drug possession law unconstitutional. In response, lawmakers made drug possession a gross misdemeanor, meaning the people remaining in prison are incarcerated for more serious crimes that make them less likely to qualify for placement in a reentry center.

They are the only reentry centers in their counties. If closed, people who would’ve gone to the Bellingham facility would now have to go 90 miles south to Seattle. And the closest reentry center to Yakima is 80-plus miles away in Kennewick. This one is also located next to the Yakama Reservation.

“Those two houses really fill that void of helping people get back to the community where their friends and family are,” Furchert said.

And while people from Bellingham could go to a Seattle reentry center and get services, they won’t be able to hold on to the job after release, Neufeld said.

“Few people in their right mind are going to commute from Seattle to Bellingham,” she said.

Both centers have been open since the 1970s.

These facilities can also serve as a path into the state’s Graduated Reentry program to allow people to finish off their sentences on house arrest.

Corrections has also proposed taking over three reentry centers — two in Spokane and one in Tacoma — the department owns but that third-party organizations have operated day-to-day.

The Tacoma facility abruptly closed last year when the local nonprofit running it pulled out. Since then, the agency has had no reentry centers in Pierce County, so Corrections has instead been sending people to King, Kitsap, Thurston and Cowlitz counties.

The Bellingham reentry center went through a similar limbo period when its contractor called it quits in 2022. The facility eventually reopened last year. Prior to the closure, the center often had between 80 and 120 people on its waitlist.

The closures are not finalized, as lawmakers still need to propose and pass their own budgets. This year’s session is scheduled to end on April 27 and budget work will ramp up in the weeks ahead.

“The Legislature has a difficult job, and it is still early in the session,” said Lang, the Corrections secretary. “We are continuing to evaluate the Department’s recommendations about reentry center closures, with our focus on maintaining capacity where needed in the state, while also making reductions necessitated by the budget crisis.”

To address the looming shortfall, Gov. Bob Ferguson is expected to announce his plan on Thursday for 6% cuts at most state agencies. He’s indicated public safety agencies, like the Department of Corrections, will be exempt. But Ferguson has also said that he backs the savings measures Inslee proposed.

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