STATE OF WASHINGTON
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

PO. Box 41101 - Olympia, Washington 98504-1101

April 12, 2019

Mayor Durkan,

Thank you for sharing the video and written response from the concerned citizen regarding
community supervision violators being dropped off at the James Street parking lot on
Monday, April 8, 2019.

When we became aware of this situation we were also concerned so we conducted some
internal fact ?nding. What we determined is these are not Washington State Department of
Corrections (WADOC) employees and are actually Yakima County Sheriff?s Of?ce
employees. The persons being transported are WADOC violators being returned from
con?nement time served at Yakima County Jail. We have contracts with the King County
Jail and Yakima County. We asked Yakima County why this was taking place. The
Yakima County Jail reported that dropping off in a parking lot was not standard practice.
They are looking into the reason this occurred and we will share this information with you
once we receive it.

A community supervision violator is someone who resides in the general community and
has conditions including reporting to their community corrections officer. If they do not
follow their specific court ordered conditions, they are considered to be in violation of their
terms and sent to serve time in jail.

Individuals who violated their conditions from across the state are sent to a number of
different jails, including King County Jail, depending on bed space availability. Yakima
County Jail transports violators who served their time to the King County Jail. In the past
the drop off location was the King County Jail, in the future it will be Seattle Community
Justice Center, a Department of Corrections facility.

 

Department of Corrections does supply violators with bus passes to assist with returning
the individuals to their county and issues warrants for arrest when these individuals do not
report to their community corrections officers on time or violate their terms of supervision.

Through partnership with state and city government, we are dedicated to improving public
safety and working together for safe cormnunities. In the ?iture, we hope to expand
conversations with the City of Seattle on improving reentry for the individuals returning to
your community.

?Working Together for SA FE Communities 

We want to be your partners in successful reentry and would be happy to meet and explore
ways to improve these outcomes.

Sincerely,


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Steve Sinclair
Secretary