The best prison, in the view of Gov. Jay Inslee, is one where people leave and don’t come back. On Monday he signed an executive order updating Washington’s reentry efforts and formalizing Washington state’s commitment to Reentry 2030, a national initiative to reduce recidivism by removing barriers for individuals leaving prison.
Inslee’s executive order makes Washington the sixth state to join Reentry 2030. The EO involves nine state agencies.
While the Reentry 2030 commitment is new, the state’s commitment to restorative justice is not.
In 2016, Inslee signed the state’s first reentry executive order directing agencies to work together on several reentry-focused services and planning. The Washington State Reentry Council was formed that same year to bolster efforts to smooth the transition from prison to life after incarceration.
State efforts are paying off. In 2015, about 34% of people released from prison committed a felony within three years. By 2020, state leaders reported that number had dropped to 22%.
Read the full story on Gov. Jay Inslee’s Medium
Gov. Inslee and First Lady Trudi Inslee with Department of Corrections officials standing outside of the state’s now closed execution chamber
Washington state executed 78 people by hanging or lethal injection at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary between 1904 and 2010. This week, Gov. Inslee and First Spouse Trudi Inslee attended a ceremony to officially close the chamber. The ceremony marked the end of a long legal process that ultimately saw Washington become the 21st state to abolish the death penalty.
That process began in 2014, when the governor announced a moratorium on the death penalty, following a year-long review of the state’s execution law.
“When the ultimate decision is death, there is too much at stake to accept an imperfect system,” said Inslee when he announced the decision to halt executions in the state.
In the years that followed, Katherine Beckett, a professor at the University of Washington, conducted further research on the death penalty in Washington. She and her team uncovered a pattern of racial bias stretching back decades. Data showed that Black defendants were four times more likely to be sentenced to death than defendants of other races.
Thanks in part to her research, in 2017 Washington’s Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty violated the state constitution because it had been disproportionately applied to Black defendants. In 2023, the Legislature voted to strike the unconstitutional penalty from the state’s books entirely. Inslee’s temporary moratorium on capital punishment became a permanent fixture of state law.
“Fairness is foundational to all our public institutions, none more so than our justice system,” said Inslee at the closing ceremony this week. “When people commit a heinous crime, sentencing shouldn’t be a fatal lottery based on zip code or race. This closure brings us one step closer to equal justice, for all.”
Washington’s education system ranked best on the West Coast, top five in U.S.
The Olympian reported that a new study from Consumer Affairs ranked Washington as having the best public education system on the West Coast and top five in the nation. The report highlighted Washington’s high salaries for teachers, best in the nation need-based financial aid program for higher education, above-average student test scores on reading proficiency tests and the ACT college entrance exam. The report also ranked Washington’s higher education system number four in the country.
Federal government boosts funding for advanced battery development in Washington
The federal government is providing a huge boost to the advanced battery manufacturing industry in Washington. Today, Group14 announced that they won a $200 million grant to build a factory in Moses Lake to make silane, key ingredient for battery materials.
Washington based company wins CHIPS R&D award
Hummingbird Precision Machine Co, a small business based in Lacey, won an award from the federal government to continue developing an advanced electron microscope. The technology is essential to research for the tiny components of semiconductors.
WA launches “Simple as That” campaign to combat littering
Every year, nearly 38 million pounds of litter accumulates on Washington roadways, on-off ramps and public areas. Litter isn’t just ugly — it’s dangerous and expensive. Roadside litter causes hundreds of car crashes every year. Many types of litter, like cigarette butts, leach harmful chemicals into the environment. Even though litter is a big problem, there’s a simple solution. Use a litter bag in your car and throw your trash in a bin. Your small daily actions make a big difference. This week, the Department of Ecology launched a campaign to reduce littering in Washington and to provide free litter bags to Washingtonians.
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