Prison expansion opening delayed

YAKIMA – The state Department of Corrections, facing a $30 million shortfall, will delay until February opening a 2,048-bed prison expansion at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in the small central Washington farm town of Connell.

In addition, the Coyote Ridge expansion will undergo a “slow walk” opening, in which each of the three new prison units will open to inmates over a period of months, said Corrections Department spokeswoman Maria Peterson.

The expansion originally was to have been fully operational by the end of 2008, and Corrections officials said in January that it could open as early as October. Instead, that date has been pushed to late summer.

“We’ll still be transitioning offenders into the new unit; it just will not be as fast,” Peterson said. “Honestly, from an operational standpoint, that works better for us anyway. That allows us to fill all those staff positions before the unit opens.”

The delayed opening is just one of several steps Corrections officials have taken in the past month to try to fix the $30 million budget shortfall in the 2008 fiscal year, which ended June 30.

Overtime for corrections officers exceeded projections in 2008. A shortage of state-employed nurses, which requires hiring more-expensive contract nurses, and rising medical and energy costs also contributed to the shortfall, Peterson said.

The department transferred $15 million from the 2009 budget to cover 2008 costs, but cuts were still necessary.

The total prisons budget for the 2007-2009 biennium is $1.8 billion.

The department eliminated 24 headquarters positions, primarily open jobs that hadn’t yet been filled, and is following the governor’s order for a hiring freeze except when needed for public safety, Peterson said.

K-9 units have been consolidated from eight prisons to just two – Airway Heights in Spokane and Monroe Correctional Complex in Snohomish County – though a K-9 training program will continue at McNeil Island Corrections Center.

The department also is looking for ways to reduce food and health care costs.

“Those aren’t things that are getting cut. Those are areas where we’re looking to save costs,” Peterson said.

Facing a faltering economy and tough campaign criticism, Gov. Chris Gregoire announced a 1 percent across-the-board cut at state agencies two weeks ago. Some critical state programs, including education, social services and public safety, are exempt.

Facing problems of its own, the Corrections Department was the only state agency the governor completely exempted.

The state anticipates a deficit in the next budget of $3.2 billion.

The $230 million Coyote Ridge project, currently one of the largest prison projects in the country, was one of two large projects scheduled to open in 2008 to ease overcrowding and house all inmates inside the state.

About 1,000 Washington inmates are currently housed out-of-state, and the state rents additional beds from local jails across Washington. A 1,000-bed expansion of the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla opened this spring.