Title 72 — Title 72 STATE INSTITUTIONS

It is the intent of the legislature to establish a comprehensive system of corrections for convicted law violators within the state of Washington to accomplish the following objectives.(1) The system should ensure the public safety. The system should be designed and managed to pr…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2539-S.SL) ***The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.(1) "Adult basic education" means education or instruction designed to achieve general competence of skills in reading, writing, and oral communication, including English as a …

There is created a department of state government to be known as the department of corrections. The executive head of the department shall be the secretary of corrections who shall be appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate. The secretary shall serve at the pleas…

All powers, duties, and functions assigned to the secretary of social and health services and to the department of social and health services relating to adult correctional programs and institutions are hereby transferred to the secretary of corrections and to the department of c…

The secretary shall manage the department of corrections and shall be responsible for the administration of adult correctional programs, including but not limited to the operation of all state correctional institutions or facilities used for the confinement of convicted felons. I…

(1) The department shall identify and catalog real property that is no longer required for department purposes and is suitable for the development of affordable housing for very low-income, low-income, and moderate-income households as defined in RCW 43.63A.510. The inventory sha…

The department may charge reasonable fees for the reproduction, shipment, and certification of documents, records, and other materials in the files of the department.[ 1995 c 189 s 2.]

The department of corrections may be organized into such divisions or offices as the secretary may determine, but shall include divisions for (1) correctional industries, (2) prisons and other custodial institutions and (3) probation, parole, community restitution, restitution, a…

There is created a correctional industries advisory committee which shall have the composition provided in RCW 72.09.080. The advisory committee shall make recommendations to the secretary regarding the implementation of RCW 72.09.100.[ 2011 1st sp.s. c 21 s 35; 2004 c 167 s 1; 1…

(1) The correctional industries advisory committee shall consist of 11 voting members in total, with nine of the voting members appointed by the secretary and two of the voting members appointed by the governor. Each member shall serve a three-year staggered term. The speaker of …

The correctional industries account is established in the state treasury. The department of corrections shall deposit in the account all moneys collected and all profits that accrue from the industrial and agricultural operations of the department and any moneys appropriated to t…

The institutional welfare account is created in the state treasury. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. The account shall consist of all moneys in the incarcerated individual betterment fund held by the department as of July 1, 2025, and any revenue and r…

Effective July 1, 2025, the moneys in the incarcerated individual betterment fund established outside the state treasury and held by the department must be deposited into the institutional welfare account created in RCW 72.09.092. On and after July 1, 2025, all revenues and recei…

Each year the state treasurer shall transfer 25 percent of the total annual revenues and receipts received in the institutional welfare account, created in RCW 72.09.092, to the department of labor and industries for the purpose of providing direct benefits to crime victims throu…

It is the intent of the legislature to vest in the department the power to provide for a comprehensive inmate work program and to remove statutory and other restrictions which have limited work programs in the past. It is also the intent of the legislature to ensure that the depa…

Administrators of work programs described in RCW 72.09.100 shall ensure that no inmate convicted of a sex offense as defined in chapter 9A.44 RCW obtains access to names, addresses, or telephone numbers of private individuals while performing his or her duties in an inmate work p…

The *department of general administration and the department of corrections shall implement prison work programs to operate automated data input and retrieval systems for appropriate departments of state government.[ 1983 c 296 s 3.]Notes:*Reviser's note: The "department of gener…

Class II correctional industries may subcontract its data input and microfilm capacities to firms from the private sector. Inmates employed under these subcontracts will be paid in accordance with the Class I free venture industries procedures and wage scale.[ 1989 c 185 s 8; 198…

All inmates working in prison industries shall participate in the cost of corrections, including costs to develop and implement correctional industries programs, by means of deductions from their gross wages. The secretary may direct the state treasurer to deposit a portion of th…

(1) The secretary shall deduct taxes and legal financial obligations from the wages, gratuities, or workers' compensation benefits payable directly to the inmate under chapter 51.32 RCW, of each inmate working in correctional industries work programs, or otherwise receiving such …

(1) The department must prepare a threshold analysis for any proposed new class I correctional industries work program or the significant expansion of an existing class I correctional industries work program before the department enters into an agreement to provide such products …

All records, documents, data, and other materials obtained under the requirements of RCW 72.09.115 from an existing correctional industries class I work program participant or an applicant for a proposed new or expanded class I correctional industries work program are exempt from…

In order to assist inmates in finding work within prison industries, the department shall periodically prepare and distribute a list of prison industries' job opportunities, which shall include job descriptions and the educational and skill requirements for each job.[ 1981 c 136 …

(1) The department shall adopt, by rule, a system that clearly links an inmate's behavior and participation in available education and work programs with the receipt or denial of earned early release days and other privileges. The system shall include increases or decreases in th…

The department of corrections shall, no later than July 1, 1987, adopt standards for the operation of state adult correctional facilities. These standards shall be the minimums necessary to meet federal and state constitutional requirements relating to health, safety, and welfare…

(1) It is the intent of the legislature that reasonable legal services be provided to persons committed to the custody of the department of corrections. The department shall contract with persons or organizations to provide legal services. The secretary shall adopt procedures des…

All reports, documents, surveys, books, records, files, papers, and other writings in the possession of the department of social and health services pertaining to the functions transferred by RCW 72.09.040 shall be delivered to the custody of the department of corrections. All ca…

All employees of the department of social and health services who are directly employed in connection with the exercise of the powers and performance of the duties and functions transferred to the department of corrections by RCW 72.09.040 shall be transferred on July 1, 1981, to…

Nothing contained in RCW 72.09.010 through 72.09.190, 72.09.901, and section 13, chapter 136, Laws of 1981 may be construed to downgrade any rights of any employee under any existing collective bargaining unit or the provisions of any existing collective bargaining agreement unti…

(1) When the secretary has reasonable cause to believe that sexual intercourse or sexual contact between an employee and an inmate has occurred, notwithstanding any rule adopted under chapter 41.06 RCW the secretary shall immediately suspend the employee.(2) The secretary shall i…

All state officials required to maintain contact with or provide services to the department or secretary of social and health services relating to adult corrections shall continue to perform the services for the department of corrections.In order to ease the transition of adult c…

(1) In recognition of prison overcrowding and the hazardous nature of employment in state correctional institutions and offices, the legislature hereby provides a supplementary program to reimburse employees of the department of corrections and the department of natural resources…

(1) The department shall develop and implement policies and procedures for the uniform distribution of communicable disease prevention guidelines to all corrections staff who, in the course of their regularly assigned job responsibilities, may come within close physical proximity…

(1) The department shall assist local units of government in establishing community restitution programs for litter cleanup. Community restitution litter cleanup programs must include the following: (a) Procedures for documenting the number of community restitution hours worked i…

(1) The department of corrections shall develop an individual reentry plan as defined in RCW 72.09.015 for every incarcerated individual who is committed to the jurisdiction of the department except:(a) Incarcerated individuals who are sentenced to life without the possibility of…

(1) The department shall notify a person, in writing, of the process for restoration of voting rights, as described in RCW 29A.08.520, prior to the release from, or transfer to partial confinement from, total confinement under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections unl…

(1) The department shall continue to establish community justice centers throughout the state for the purpose of providing comprehensive services and monitoring for offenders who are reentering the community.(2) For the purposes of this chapter, "community justice center" is defi…

(1) A housing provider may be placed on a list with the department to receive rental vouchers under RCW 9.94A.729 in accordance with the provisions of this section.(2) For living environments with between four and eight beds, or a greater number of individuals if permitted by loc…

(1) No later than July 1, 2007, and every biennium thereafter starting with the biennium beginning July 1, 2009, the department shall prepare a list of counties and rural multicounty geographic areas in which work release facilities, community justice centers and other community-…

(1) Every county legislative authority shall by resolution or ordinance establish a local law and justice council. The county legislative authority shall determine the size and composition of the council, which shall include the county sheriff and a representative of the municipa…

An inmate in community custody who willfully discontinues making himself or herself available to the department for supervision by making his or her whereabouts unknown or by failing to maintain contact with the department as directed by the community corrections officer shall be…

(1) The department of corrections shall conduct an analysis of the necessary capacity throughout the state to appropriately confine offenders who violate community custody and formulate recommendations for future capacity. In conducting its analysis, the department must consider:…

(1) The department shall track and collect data and information on violations of community custody conditions and the sanctions imposed for violations under RCW 9.94A.737, which includes, but is not limited to, the following:(a) The number and types of high level violations and t…

(1) When an offender is under court-ordered mental health or chemical dependency treatment in the community and the supervision of the department of corrections, and the community corrections officer becomes aware that the person is in violation of the terms of the court's treatm…

The state of Washington, the department and its employees, community corrections officers, their staff, and volunteers who assist community corrections officers in the community placement program are not liable for civil damages resulting from any act or omission in the rendering…

(1) The department shall provide written notification to an inmate convicted of a sex offense or kidnapping offense of the registration requirements of RCW 9A.44.130 at the time of the inmate's release from confinement and shall receive and retain a signed acknowledgment of recei…

The secretary is authorized to operate a correctional facility on McNeil Island for the confinement of sex offenders and other offenders sentenced by the courts, and to make necessary repairs, renovations, additions, and improvements to state property for that purpose, notwithsta…

(1) The department shall determine placement for sex offender treatment by assessing the offender's risk for sexual reoffense as the primary factor. The department shall offer offenders the opportunity for sex offender treatment during incarceration based on the following priorit…

The secretary of corrections, the secretary of social and health services, the secretary of children, youth, and families, and the indeterminate sentence review board may adopt rules to implement chapter 12, Laws of 2001 2nd sp. sess.[ 2017 3rd sp.s. c 6 s 631; 2001 2nd sp.s. c 1…

(1) In making all discretionary decisions regarding release plans for and supervision of sex offenders, the department shall set priorities and make decisions based on an assessment of public safety risks.(2) The department shall have a policy governing the department's evaluatio…