SENATE BILL REPORT

                           ESHB 1922

    AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON WAYS & MEANS, APRIL 5, 1993

Brief Description:  Creating a work ethic boot camp program within the department of corrections.

SPONSORS: House Committee on Corrections (originally sponsored by Representatives Lemmon, Mastin, Morris, Hansen, Basich, Kessler, Johanson, Scott, Tate, Bray, Campbell, Dunshee, Eide, Orr, Grant, Lisk, Ludwig, R. Meyers, Springer, Finkbeiner, Dorn, Vance, Quall, Kremen, Rayburn, Brough, Foreman, Riley, L. Johnson, Horn, King, Forner, Roland, Ogden, Thomas, Brumsickle, Long, Casada, Ballasiotes, Mielke, Cooke, Van Luven and Karahalios)

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON CORRECTIONS

SENATE COMMITTEE ON LAW & JUSTICE

Majority Report:  Do pass as amended and be referred to Committee on Ways & Means. 

     Signed by Senators A. Smith, Chairman; Quigley, Vice Chairman; Hargrove, McCaslin, Nelson, and Roach.

Staff:  Dick Armstrong (786‑7460)

Hearing Dates: March 31, 1993; April 1, 1993

SENATE COMMITTEE ON WAYS & MEANS

Majority Report:  Do pass as amended by Committee on Law & Justice. 

     Signed by Senators Rinehart, Chairman; Bauer, Bluechel, Gaspard, Hargrove, Hochstatter, Jesernig, Moyer, Owen, Quigley, Snyder, Sutherland, Talmadge, and Wojahn.

Staff:  Cindi Holmstrom (786-7715)

Hearing Dates: April 5, 1993

BACKGROUND:

Currently, approximately 14 states are conducting as many as 25 boot camp incarceration programs in the United States.  Most of the programs are modeled after the United States military style boot camp; however, work programs are a component in many of the programs.  Of the 10 states reportedly initiating a new boot camp program, most are developing their programs with a focus on the work ethic component.

The Department of Corrections currently does not administer a boot camp program.  The department does, however, administer a range of offender work programs including four active forest camp programs throughout the state.  The forest camp programs house men and women in barrack-style housing and require the offenders to perform hard physical labor in the forest such as fighting fires, tree planting, and tree thinning, and also attending off-work education, drug treatment, and anger management classes.

SUMMARY:

The Secretary of the Department of Corrections is required to establish a work ethic boot camp pilot program effective until July 1, 1998.  The department must establish the work ethic boot camp within an already existing facility.  The program shall last from 120 to 180 days. 

Offenders are recommended to the program as a condition of their sentence by the sentencing judge.  The judge is required to convert the period of work ethic camp confinement at a rate of one day of work camp to three days of total standard confinement. 

The Secretary of the Department of Corrections determines eligibility based on the following criteria.  The offender:  is between the ages of 18 and 28; has no known physical or mental impairments that would prevent participation in the program; is a first time drug offender or an offender sentenced from 22 to 36 months; is not convicted of any sex or violent offenses; and must agree to the terms and conditions of the program.

The program is designed to provide the offender with intense character building work and training.  The components include:  real-world vocational job experiences; character building work ethic training; life management skills development; substance rehabilitation and counseling; literacy training; adult basic education and general education development test achievement (GED); an intense range of character and skill building challenges; and citizenship skills and measures to hold the offender accountable for his or her behavior.

The offender can be expelled from the program for failure to comply to program rules as determined by the department.  Those offenders expelled from the program are required to be reclassified and serve the remainder of their sentence in another facility.

The department is required to employ 100 percent of all the offenders in the program in class I, class II, class III, and class IV correctional industries job programs.  Initially, no more than 35 percent of the inmates are allowed to work in class III jobs.  After the first year, the percentage of class III jobs are required to be reduced by 10 percent until no more than 10 percent of all offenders are employed in this class of work.  The department is also given the authority to conduct prison work crews that can conduct litter control and minor emergency repair on public roads. 

The department and the Office of Financial Management are required to analyze the effectiveness of the program.  The evaluation report is due January 15, 1998.

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED SENATE AMENDMENTS:

The sentencing portion of the bill is rewritten to clarify the sentencing process, eligibility for the program, duties of the Department of Corrections, and the obligations of the offender.

The work ethic program will apply only to offenders sentenced after the effective date of the act; DOC will not be able to transfer current offenders into the work ethic program and reduce their existing sentences by the 3 to 1 ratio.

Various technical amendments are made to carry out the intent of the bill.

Appropriation:  none

Revenue:  none

Fiscal Note:  requested

Effective Date:  July 1, 1993

TESTIMONY FOR:

The bill will help to reduce recidivism and help offenders return to society with job training and citizenship skills, in addition to the benefits gained from educational programs.

TESTIMONY AGAINST:  None

TESTIFIED:  Representative Lemmon, prime sponsor (pro)