WFSE/AFSCME COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS MEMBERS HELP MOTHER OF SLAIN VANCOUVER GIRL

. . . BRINGS MESSAGE AGAINST BILL LOWERING COMMUNITY SUPERVISION OF OFFENDERS TO LEGISLATORS

Federation Community Corrections members helped the mother of Alycia Nipp, the 13-year-old Vancouver-area seventh-grader murdered Feb. 21 in a case where a homeless sex offender has been charged with her death, get her message against ESSB 5288 to legislators Tuesday.

Maranda Hannah and friends and relatives visited with lawmakers with the message that ESSB 5288 harms public safety by potentially releasing dangerous criminals, including sex offenders, back into the community without supervision by state Community Corrections officers.

She then met with reporters at Federation headquarters to answer questions.

Hannah said she hadn’t planned to go public until after the trial of the man charged in her daughter’s murder. But ESSB 5288 changed all that.

The idea that ESSB 5288 would balance the budget on the back of public safety spurred her to action.

“I’m so torn up inside….I don’t want to stand by and do nothing,” Hannah said.

Meanwhile, the union has produced a YouTube video where Community Corrections members further explain the growing concerns about ESSB 5288:

At the meeting with reporters at Federation headquarters, Hannah poignantly explained the shock she felt when she realized ESSB 5288 had been introduced.

“Releasing 12,000 dangerous offenders with no supervision by our state Community Corrections officers is not the way to balance the budget,” Hannah told reporters gathered at Federation headquarters in Olympia.

Many in the room teared up as Hannah’s sister, Amber, held up a photo of the murdered girl and Hannah told reporters: “If Alycia had been a color, she would have been yellow”—describing how bright a light she was in the lives of all who knew her.

“There is no price tag we can place on our children,” she said.

As the Tacoma News Tribune reported March 19, under ESSB 5288 the state Department of Corrections “would stop supervising thousands of low- and moderate-risk offenders after six months.” Community Corrections officers contend many high-risk offenders would actually fall into this category through misclassification, plea-bargaining and other events. ESSB 5288 is now in the House Human Services Committee.

CALL TO ACTION ON ESSB 5288
updated 3/27/09

Call 1-800-562-6000 and urge your two House members to oppose ESSB 5288. It harms public safety.

Find talking points and email option here - but only use email AFTER making a phone call.