Prisons department cites varying reasons for Ridgway transfer to Colorado

OLYMPIA – The head of Washington state’s Department of Corrections said Friday that Green River serial killer Gary Ridgway was moved from a Washington state prison to federal prison in Colorado because he had been deemed a security threat who might harm the staff in Walla Walla.

In his isolated arrangement, based on his profile, Ridgway, 66, had ample opportunity to study the cell, staff and prison routines and look for weaknesses, Secretary Dan Pacholke told members of the state Senate Law and Justice Committee.

Pacholke’s remarks contradict comments made in an interview two months ago by then-DOC Secretary Bernie Warner, when he described Ridgway as “not necessarily a threat to others.”

The latest explanation for Ridgway’s transfer in May to a prison in Florence, Colorado, adds another layer of intrigue to the situation. After families of victims and some elected officials protested the move, Ridgway was returned in October to the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.

“We really referred him (to the Colorado prison) as a matter of increasing the security around Gary Ridgway and … mitigating the possibility that he would escape and potentially harm our staff,” Pacholke said.

Since his 2005 conviction, Ridgway lived in virtual isolation at the Walla Walla prison, serving life without parole. Ridgway pleaded guilty to killing 49 women over 20 years, but it is thought he killed closer to 70 people.

DOC records indicate Ridgway was a model inmate, cooperating with staff and abiding by prison rules. The documents also show in recent years Ridgway has complained of mental problems and has been on medication.

According to DOC documents and the Bureau of Prisons inmate manual for the Florence facility, Ridgway was to be placed in the Colorado prison’s general population, where he could presumably mix with other inmates and have access to work and other privileges.

The intent of moving Ridgway was to allow him an opportunity to live in a prison’s general population, according to documents previously obtained by the Seattle Times through a public records request.

Additionally, Warner said Ridgway’s transfer was a matter of economics, because of the cost of keeping him in such a high-security environment.

“Gary Ridgway presents an ongoing risk in our system. (Ridgway) requires a lot of custody resources,” Warner, who stepped down in October for work at a private corrections company, told the Times earlier this year. “He’s not necessarily a threat to others, but he could be targeted.”

U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, who also spoke at Friday’s committee session, said he remained unmoved by the DOC’s explanations.

“The Department of Corrections … is not being honest with the people of the state of Washington,” Reichert, the former King County sheriff who spent years investigating the killings as a sheriff’s detective, said after the committee session.

DOC officials claimed Ridgway would enjoy no additional freedoms in the Colorado prison. When he arrived there in May, Ridgway was placed in a high-security facility.

The transfer sparked an uproar, with Washington law enforcement officials expressing worry that keeping Ridgway so far away would hinder investigators working on open homicide cases, according to the DOC.