The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

By cutting many inmate sentences short by one or two months to free up beds, the Senate Ways & Means Committee calculated that McNeil Island Corrections Center could be closed, saving almost $16 million by the end of this biennium. And the real savings, an estimated $31 million per year, would follow.

But when trying to understand what that would mean for Pierce County, there is more to consider than raw dollar figures, some critics say. Although it’s ultimately not for them to decide, the plan lacks the support of Department of Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail; the Teamsters union, which represents many of the 587 staff that work at McNeil; and the Department of Social and Health Services, which runs a civil commitment center for sex offenders on the island.

Ferrying people and supplies to and from the facility makes housing offenders at McNeil pricey. The prison has the highest per-inmate cost of the state’s medium security facilities, running $37,000 per inmate per year, $6,000 above the state average. McNeil costs nearly $50 million per year to operate.

The state House and the state Senate have made different pitches for trimming corrections costs.

The Senate would get most of its savings by reducing spending inside the prisons – including letting many inmates out a month or two early and closing McNeil – while the House proposes cutting back on supervision of ex-convicts after they get out of prison and go back into the community.

John Lane, the governor’s policy adviser on criminal justice, said the administration hasn’t seen a bill yet that would bring the average daily population of the system down far enough to close McNeil.

“We need to wait and see what happens at the end of session,” he said, noting that the administration generally agreed with Vail, who thinks the logistics of making cuts while maintaining the integrity of the system are best left to the agency itself.

“We’re going to have to make some hard decisions,” Vail said. “But I’d prefer they leave it to us to make those decisions.”

From Vail’s perspective, the state would likely be better served shutting down units in multiple prisons rather than closing an entire facility. That would give the department more flexibility as the state’s financial situation changes and as the inmate population fluctuates.

“Prison population tends to rise faster during an economic downturn,” Vail said.

There’s also the $165 million the state has spent since 1990 to improve the facilities on the island.

“I’d like to see us get the full life cycle out of the investment we put in,” he said.

And for its financial disadvantages, the prison has a number of advantages, Vail said. The facility has the added security of being on an island accessible only by boat, and it’s on the Interstate 5 corridor, making it convenient for visitors and staff.

Vail’s sentiments were echoed by Tracey Thompson, secretary of Teamsters Local 117, which represents about 500 of the prison’s corrections officers and other employees.

“It’s in a central location,” she said. “And it’s a significant number of jobs for Pierce County. There might be some opportunities for our folks to move into other prisons, but we have a lot of prisons in remote areas.”

It’s not clear how many jobs would be lost outright and how many would be moved elsewhere.

On Wednesday, the union ratified a new two-year contract that would ensure that employees at McNeil had seniority and transfer rights if the facility closed, said union spokesman Paul Zilly. It did not include a wage increase.

Thompson said she thought transferring the work of running the island’s ferry service, its fire department and its wastewater treatment plant to the DSHS also might pose a problem.

“They are under an obligation to bargain about changes in working conditions,” Thompson said. “They can’t unilaterally transfer work outside of our bargaining unit.”

The DSHS operates the Special Commitment Center, which opened in 1990 to house civilly committed sex offenders who are deemed a continuing threat even after their prison sentences. It’s currently home to about 300 residents.

Steve Williams, a spokesman for the DSHS, said having both the prison and the sex offender center on the island created an economy of scale.

“We consider what they do to be kind of our lifeline to the island,” he said. “They even have a SWAT-type team that we can call if we need it.”

The Senate estimated that transfer of those services would stick the DSHS with a yearly bill of $4.2 million (if they aren’t contracted out). Williams said DSHS calculations put the figure at $12 million.

Ron Lucas, the mayor of Steilacoom, which sits just across the water from McNeil, said closing the facility would hurt local shops and gas stations.

“It’s an issue that will have a bigger impact on small business in our community,” he said. “Small business is where you hire people.”

The town might also have to adjust its $100,000-a-year contract with the owners of Steilacoom Marine and Spirits, who pay for the privilege of running the local parking operation utilized by those going to the island.

If there is a nonfinancial silver lining to closing McNeil, it would be one fewer facility located in a county where officials have been fighting for years for a more equitable distribution of criminal justice facilities, especially offender treatment and work-release programs.

Hard-won requirements now make the state ship directly released inmates back to their county of origin. But Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Gerry Horne has blamed the state work-release program for funneling into the county more than its fair share of ex-convicts; that, in turn, makes the crime rate worse because so many offenders return to crime after their release from prison.

Some offenders’ families also relocate to the areas around prisons.

Closing the prison wouldn’t have a huge impact, but it’s another small step toward parity, said deputy prosecutor Mark Lindquist.

“Here in Pierce County we’ve got Purdy (women’s prison), McNeil, the Special Commitment Center, Western State Hospital and the federal detention center,” he said. “Add all that together and it puts a burden on our criminal justice system and social services.”