Washington state spent nearly $98K to execute Brown

YAKIMA — The Washington state Department of Corrections says it spent $97,814.09 to execute convicted murderer Cal Coburn Brown. Brown was executed Sept. 10 for the 1991 rape, torture and murder of 21-year-old Holly Washa of Seattle. He was the first inmate executed in Washington since 2001, after spending nearly 17 years on death row. The agency said Monday that it spent $75,862.59 in employee wages related to the execution. The Corrections Department sent officials from its headquarters office in Olympia to the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla to oversee the execution, and the prison beefed up security that day. The annual cost to house an inmate at the penitentiary has more than doubled since 1997, from $21,316 to $43,352 this year.