The Washington State Department of Corrections (WADOC) is a department of the government of the State of Washington. WADOC is responsible for administering adult corrections programs operated by the state. This includes state correctional institutions and programs for people supervised in the community."About DOC." Washington State Department of Corrections. Retrieved on March 3, 2011. Its headquarters are in Tumwater, Washington."Contact Us ." Washington State Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 25, 2012. "Physical Address: 7345 Linderson Way SW Tumwater, WA 98501-6504"

History The modern Washington Department of Corrections is a relatively young state agency. Agency oversight of correctional institutions in Washington State went through several transitions during the 20th century before the WADOC's creation in 1981.

Prior to the 1970s, state correctional facilities were managed by the Washington Department of Institutions. governor Daniel J. Evans consolidated the Department of Institutions, Department of Public Assistance & Vocational Rehabilitation, and other related departments into the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) in the 1970s."The Arc: WA State" Retrieved on September 25, 2016.

On July 1, 1981, the Washington State Legislature transferred the administration of adult correctional institutions from the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, Division of Adult Corrections (DSHS) to the newly created Washington State Department of Corrections as part of the 1981 Corrections Reform Act."Corrections Reform Act of 1981 c 136 § 3., RCW 72.09.030" Retrieved on September 25, 2016.

Organizational structure The Washington Department of Corrections organizational structure includes six major divisions: Women’s Prisons Men’s Prisons Community Corrections Administrative Operations Health Services Reentry

Each division has an assistant secretary who oversees the division's operations.

The secretary of corrections is the executive head of the department. The secretary is appointed by the governor with the consent of the state Senate.

Department facilities

Prisons

The department currently operates 11 adult prisons, of which 9 are male institutions and two are female institutions."Prisons - Locations ." Washington State Department of Corrections. Retrieved on March 3, 2011. The department confines over 12,000 people in these facilities, with each varying in size and mission across the state."Learn More About Prisons." Washington State Department of Corrections. Retrieved on March 3, 2011.

The Washington State Legislature in the 2025 legislative session passed a budget to close the Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women (MCCCW). Its closure is planned for September 2025, with all Incarcerated Individuals being moved to the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW). With MCCCW's closure, the WCCW will be the only facility left in the Women's Prison Division.

Work releases

The department currently has 12 work release facilities. All but two of these facilities are operated by contractors, who manage the daily safety and security and have oversight of the facilities full-time (24 hours a day, 7 days per week). Department staff are located on site to assist in supervision, monitoring, and case management of those under supervision, as well as monitoring of the contracts."Work Release - Locations." Washington State Department of Corrections. Retrieved on March 3, 2011.

Formerly incarcerated people housed in work release facilities have progressed from full confinement to partial confinement, and are required to seek, secure, and maintain employment in the community, as well as pay for their room and board. This model is designed to provide some foundation for employment and housing when the formerly incarcerated are released to communities.

Field offices Community Supervision occurs at 86 varied locations in the community to include: field offices, community justice centers, Community Oriented Policing (COP) Shops and outstations. Activities of supervised people in the community are monitored, which includes home visits, by a Community Corrections Officer to ensure compliance with court, or known as the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board (ISRB), which was the Washington State Board of Prison Terms and Paroles, only those individuals who have been deemed rehabilitated by the ISRB are placed on Parole and department conditions of supervision, such as Community Supervision and/or Community Custody.

Community Justice Centers The Community Justice Centers are responsible for aiding offenders who are reentering the community by providing them with various resources and a designated place to go to receive additional opportunities to ensure their success once they reenter the community.

There are six Community Justice Centers in the state of Washington:

Everett Justice Center Seattle Justice Center Spokane Justice Center Tacoma Justice Center Vancouver Justice Center Yakima Justice Center

All the justice centers are staffed by the department and are nonresidential facilities. The main resources provided by these centers include reentry planning, mental health services, sex offense treatment, anger management, parenting education, financial literacy, and housing and employee assistance. While this list does not include all the programs and resources provided by these centers, these are the major ones to note.

The centers also provide sanctions to individuals upon their reentry to aid them in accountability and ensure they are receiving the necessary help to ensure they are successful upon their reentry.

Death row

In 2014, Governor Jay Inslee announced a moratorium on carrying out the death penalty in Washington State."Gov. Jay Inslee announces capital punishment moratorium " Retrieved on September 25, 2016. According to Inslee, "Equal justice under the law is the state's primary responsibility. And in death penalty cases, I'm not convinced equal justice is being served. The use of the death penalty in this state is unequally applied, sometimes dependent on the budget of the county where the crime occurred." The moratorium means that if a death penalty case comes to the governor's desk for action, he will issue a reprieve. However, this action does not commute the sentences of those on death row or issue any pardons. The majority of Washington's death penalty sentences are overturned and those convicted of capital offenses are rarely executed, indicating questionable sentencing in many cases. Since 1981, the year Washington State's current capital laws were put in place, 32 defendants have been sentenced to die. Of those, 18 have had their sentences converted to life in prison and one was set free. This has raised issues in accountability, as there have been multiple inmates serving life sentences that have killed other inmates that have stated that there's nothing more they can do to them because they are already serving a life sentence.

Prior to Inslee's moratorium, Washington's capital punishment law required that capital punishment imposed by the state's courts be carried out at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. Procedures for conducting executions are supervised by the Penitentiary Superintendent."Capital Punishment in Washington State." Washington State Department of Corrections. Retrieved on December 19, 2016. Washington utilizes two methods of execution: lethal injection and hanging. Lethal injection is used unless the inmate under sentence of death chooses hanging as the preferred execution method.

Within 10 days of a trial court entering a judgment and sentence imposing the death penalty, male defendants under sentence of death are transferred to the Penitentiary, where they remain in a segregation unit [Intensive Management Unit North (IMU-N) at the prison] pending appeals, and until a death warrant is issued setting the date for the execution. Female defendants under sentence of death are housed at the Washington Corrections Center for Women near Gig Harbor before being transferred to the Penitentiary no later than 72 hours prior to a scheduled execution, also housed in IMU North, although the execution chamber is located in Unit 6.

78 persons have been executed in Washington since 1904, the most recent being Cal Coburn Brown, in 2010.

As of 2023, the death penalty was repealed in Washington State.

Correctional Industries The Washington Department of Corrections revenue-generating, industry job training, and factory food production branch is Washington State Correctional Industries. It is a member of the National Correctional Industries Association.

Correctional Industries began centralizing food production at the Airway Heights Correctional Center in 1995."Washington Prison Food Factory Cooks Up Controversy." Prison Legal News. Retrieved on September 23, 2016. In the years since, freshly cooked food for incarcerated people in Washington prisons has gradually and in large part been replaced by factory processed, prepackaged food.

Private contracts Private prisons On May 21, 2015, The GEO Group announced the signing of a contract with the Washington Department of Corrections for the out-of-state housing of up to 1,000 prisoners at the company-owned North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin, Michigan, with a contract term of five years inclusive of renewal option periods.

Food vendors Under the Washington state Food Umbrella Contract, WA DOC's Correctional Industries procures products from Food Services of America, Liberty Distributing, Medosweet Farms, Spokane Produce, Terry Dairy's, Triple "B" Corporations, and Unisource. WA DOC also contracts with Evergreen Vending, Coca-Cola, and other private food vendors for its facility vending machines.

Communications WA DOC contracts with JPay, a private company that charges the incarcerated and their families for electronic mail, photo-sharing, money transfer, and video visiting services. Phone services for the incarcerated and their families are through WA DOC's contract with Global Tel Link.

Secretary of Corrections

The secretary of corrections in Washington State is a cabinet level position appointed by the state governor. This position differs from the historical director of the Washington Department of Institutions in its educational requirements. In the 1950s and 1960s, Washington law mandated that directors of the Department of Institutions were required to hold graduate degrees."Conte, William R. Is Prison Reform Possible?: The Washington State Experience in the Sixties. Unique Press, 1990." The modern Washington Department of Corrections has no such requirements for its secretary of corrections.

The position is responsible for administration of various adult correctional programs as well as overall management of the department. The position can also delegate tasks to various other departments and administrations including, Budget Strategy and Technology Administration, Chief Medical Officer, Communications Office, Employee and Business Support Services Administration, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, & Respect (EDIR), Indeterminate Sentence Review Board (ISRB), and Office of Indian Policy.

The Office of Deputy Secretary (which is separate from the Office of the Secretary) also oversees some major operational areas including the Community Corrections Division, Health Services Division, Prisons Division and the Reentry Division.

Amos Reed Amos Reed, appointed by Governor John Spellman, served as the first Washington state secretary of corrections from 1981 to 1986.Colson, Charles W. Kingdoms in conflict. Zondervan, 1987. Available on Google Books as of September 20, 2016.

Prior to his position as secretary, Reed served as an administrator in the Oregon Department of Corrections from 1969 to 1975.

Chase Riveland