H-1429.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 1674

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1997 Regular Session

By Representatives Dunn, Alexander, Clements, Skinner, Thompson and Sullivan

Read first time 02/04/97.  Referred to Committee on Criminal Justice & Corrections.

Increasing the capacity of the Washington state reformatory.

    AN ACT Relating to the Washington state reformatory; adding a new section to chapter 72.09 RCW; creating a new section; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature finds that continued growth in the state prison inmate population requires that all available capacity within the prison system be maximized.  Further, the legislature finds that unutilized capacity exists at the Washington state reformatory in Monroe.  It is the purpose of this act to expedite the utilization of all existing housing capacity at the reformatory.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 72.09 RCW to read as follows:

    The department shall assign and house two inmates to each housing cell containing two beds at the Washington state reformatory.  The department shall include all beds in each housing cell in existence on January 1, 1997, when calculating the operating capacity of the reformatory.  For the purposes of this section, "housing cell" includes all cells containing bunks except infirmary cells, short-term disciplinary and segregation cells, and cells used for the temporary housing of inmates in transition between institutions.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect July 1, 1997.

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