NEWS GLEAMS | Washington State Joins Reentry 2030 to Aid Formerly Incarcerated People, Closes Last Death Penalty Chamber

by Vee Hua 華婷婷

Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee signed Executive Order 24-03, “Building Safe and Successful Communities Through Successful Reentry,” last week, which formalizes the state’s participation in the national initiative Reentry 2030. Reentry 2030 is a bipartisan effort that takes place in all 50 states and attempts to improve success and remove barriers for individuals leaving prison or who are put under governmental supervision. In signing this executive order, Washington State will be the sixth state to join the initiative, alongside New York, Nebraska, North Carolina, Alabama, and finally, Missouri, which was the first state to join.

On his Medium blog, Inslee writes, “The United States incarcerates nearly 16% of the world’s prison population. The national incarceration rate is at least six times higher than most European countries. About 95 percent of incarcerated people will walk free from a state prison one day, but more than 1 out of 4 will return within three years. The United States spends $52 billion on corrections each year, but leads the world in recidivism.”

Reentry 2030 gathers local, county, and state leaders together so that they can innovate with one another around best practices and collaborate to transform reentry systems. The project's hope is to take a human-centered approach that incorporates the perspectives of people who go through reentry systems, which are "necessary to understand and overcome long-standing inefficiencies and fragmentation in reentry services and policies."

Some of the practices that Washington State will incorporate, under advice from Reentry 2030, are:

• Individual assessments conducted by the state departments of Corrections (DOC) and Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) upon each person’s entry and release, in order to help access to job training and education.

• Assistance with attainment of valid identification with the help of the Department of Licensing (DOL), as well as the elimination of driver’s license reinstatement fees by courts.

• Updates on trainings for state human resource managers, undertaken by the Department of Enterprise Services, to help include job prospects for individuals who are interested in public service.

• Search for funding by the Department of Commerce in order to help formerly incarcerated individuals find housing and seek removal of policies that allow exclusion of renters who have a history of incarceration.

• Pursuit of funding and resources for food assistance and related benefits, conducted by the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

• Encouragement of employers statewide to “hire justice-impacted individuals and provide instruction about workers rights,” led by the Employment Security Department (ESD) and Department of Labor & Industries (L&I).

• Assistance from the state Health Care Authority to advise individuals on access to Medicaid health care and behavioral health services.

Washington State’s joining of Reentry 2030 builds upon Inslee’s signing of the state’s first reentry executive order in 2016, which directed numerous state agencies to work together on reentry services and planning. According to Inslee’s blog, “in 2015, about 34% of people released from prison committed a felony within three years. By 2020, state leaders reported that number had dropped to 22%.”

The text of the bill for Executive Order 24-03 notes that every dollar which Washington State spends on prison education “saves up to $19.80 on the costs of re-incarceration; and that incarcerated individuals who participate in rehabilitative, vocational, and education programs recidivate less than those who do not.”

Since the signing of the 2016 executive order, the Department of Corrections (DOC) has invested more in corrections education, work programs, volunteer opportunities, and apprenticeships — as well as culturally specific practices, relationship development, and ritual or traditional ceremonies. All such efforts are linked to higher success of individuals reentering society upon release from incarceration. The DOC also has a Graduated Reentry Program which helps soon-to-be-released individuals establish a structure for their lives upon release. It is expected that the new executive order will expand upon such efforts.

Last week, Washington State closed its death penalty chamber at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, marking the end of such state-sanctioned executions. Since 1904, Washington State had carried out 78 executions — all of whom were men. All were killed by hanging or lethal injection.

A state moratorium on the death penalty was put into place in 2014 by Gov. Jay Inslee, and the state’s capital punishment law was officially overturned by the state Supreme Court in 2018, following a ruling in State of Washington v. Allen Eugene Gregory. The case determined — for the third time in Washington State history — that the death penalty was unconstitutional.

The case evaluated evidence of racial bias from a 2014 University of Washington (UW) study and ultimately found that the death penalty was unconstitutional and “imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner.” In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst wrote, “To the extent that race distinguishes the cases, it is clearly impermissible and unconstitutional.” 

“A statistical study showed that Black defendants were four and a half times more likely to be sentenced to death than similarly situated white defendants,” reported the Equal Justice Initiative, of the UW study.

Though Washington State ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 2018, it was finally officially repealed in July 2023. The Walla Walla penitentiary closure comes just months later. The last execution took place there in 1963.

The League of Women Voters (LWV) and Snohomish County will be hosting a debate on Oct. 1 for candidates running for the offices of Washington State’s secretary of state and insurance commissioner. The candidates include Democratic incumbent Steve Hobbs and Republican Dale Whitaker for secretary of state, as well as Democrat Patricia Kuderer and Republican Phil Fortunado for insurance commissioner.

The debate will be hosted at the Edmonds College Black Box Theater in Lynwood, Washington. Doors will open at 6:00 p.m., the insurance commissioner debate will begin at 6:30 p.m., and the secretary of state debate will begin at 7:15 p.m. The in-person event will also be recorded and live-streamed at TVW.org, and all members of the public are invited to attend. 

Voters can submit questions for the candidates in advance by emailing forumquestions@lwvwa.org. 

A number of past recordings can be found on LWV’s website, including forums with candidates for Washington State attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, and commissioner of public lands.

Vee Hua 華婷婷 (they/them) is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer with semi-nomadic tendencies. Much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They are the editor-in-chief of REDEFINE, a long-time member of the Seattle Arts Commission, and a film educator at the interdisciplinary community hub, Northwest Film Forum, where they previously served as executive director and played a key role in making the space more welcoming and accessible for diverse audiences. After a recent stint as the interim managing editor at South Seattle Emerald, they are moving into production on their feature film, Reckless Spirits, which is a metaphysical, multilingual POC buddy comedy. They have a master’s in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship under the American Indian Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.

The South Seattle Emerald™ website contains information and content supplied by third parties and community members. Information contained herein regarding any specific person, commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the South Seattle Emerald™, its directors, editors, or staff members.