SHORTER WASHINGTON DRUG SENTENCES PROPOSED

Prison Officials Suggest The State, Which Is Facing A Budget
Shortfall, Can Save $26 Million Over Two Years

OLYMPIA -- State prison officials, responding to a request by Gov.
Gary Locke to identify possible budget cuts, say shorter sentences
for some drug offenders could save taxpayers $26 million during the
next two years.

The proposal is part of an effort by state agencies to identify
possible cuts to help resolve an upcoming budget shortfall. The state
is facing expenses that exceed the voter-approved spending cap by at
least $1.1 billion.

Locke must submit his budget proposal to the Legislature in two weeks.

Under the proposal sent to him by the Corrections Department, drug
offenders already in custody could have their sentences shortened,
freeing up 525 to 700 prison beds.

Another option is to reduce prison terms for nonviolent drug users
convicted in the future for possessing or selling drugs, Margaret
Vonheeder, deputy secretary for administration for the Department of
Corrections, said Wednesday.

The suggested changes would buck a trend toward longer sentences.

"You'd be looking at people who pose the lowest risk to public
safety," Vonheeder said. "We've talked about a lot of different
sentencing changes."

The governor's criminal-justice adviser, Dick Van Wagenen, said Locke
is still reviewing agency spending proposals. But the ideas deserve a
public discussion, Van Wagenen said.

"The budget problems the state faces are very large and very, very
real," he said. "I don't think anything is going to be off the table
in terms of how the Legislature deals with them."

Also proposed for cuts are drug treatment inside prison walls for
some inmates, as well as elimination of all vocational training
behind bars.

Vonheeder said that cuts to drug treatment and vocational training
are "antithetical" to the agency's efforts to rehabilitate offenders
and see them re-enter society with a smaller risk of committing more
crimes but that she sees no other way to make large spending cuts
without cutting full programs.