COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS OFFICERS TAKE FIGHT AGAINST FLAWED EARLY RELEASE PLAN TO STATE HOUSE

Federation Community Corrections members today took their fight against the flawed legislation that would end community supervision of many more “low-risk” offenders to the state House.

ESSB 5288 has already passed the Senate 38-8. Some elements have been changed for the better, but it still relies on the flawed assessment tool that can misclassify dangerous high-risk offenders as low-risk—and removing all supervision.

“We’re making legislation based on a tool that’s only 50 percent accurate,” said Ginger Richardson, a Community Corrections officer 2 in King County and president of Federation Local 308.

“So basically, everybody can take out a coin and flip it and determine who gets to be supervised and who doesn’t. That is not smart legislation. It’s not the time to make legislation based on an assessment tool that’s only been used since August and already has documented errors.”

The lower supervision levels in ESSB 5288 harm the fight against domestic violence, she said.

“We are the first line of defense for domestic violence victims,” Richardson said.

Richardson was joined by three other Federation Community Corrections members at the hearing before the House Human Services Committee.

Dana Hufford, a CCO 2 in Seattle and member of Local 308, said ESSB 5288 contradicts the progress gained in the past two decades for supervising sex offenders.

Judith Lang, a CCO 2 in Seattle and member of Local 308, said community supervision of offenders does help their rehabilitation and reduce recidivism.

And Cindy McHie, a CCO 3 in Walla Walla and president of Federation Local 396, said community supervision needs to be strengthened, not scaled back.

“I think it could harm community safety…,” McHie said. “There are a lot of really concerning people on supervision whose supervision would be eliminated by this bill….

“If you cut funding now, our communities will pay later.”

CALL TO ACTION ON ESSB 5288:

Call your legislators at 1-800-562-6000 to oppose ESSB 5288, the bill cutting community supervision of offenders. It’s based on a flawed assessment tool, threatens community safety and will end up costing the state more in the long run.