Carrell says deal to close McNeil Island prison poses public safety risk

While considering the Senate operating budget late Friday night several members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee struck a deal to close the McNeil Island prison entirely, but keep the Special Commitment Center for civilly committed sex predators open. In exchange, the Larch Correctional Center near Vancouver, in Clark County, would be kept open at maximum capacity.

Sen. Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood, whose district includes McNeil Island, says he wasn’t asked or consulted before the deal was made. Striking such a deal in the dark of night without any input from the public is one thing, Carrell says, but doing so without consulting the senator who represents the district that could see a decrease in public safety as a result is shocking.

Currently, inmates operate the ferries that shuttle families, inmates and workers to and from McNeil Island. Carrell says he asked tongue-in-cheek if SCC residents would take on those duties after the prison is mothballed.

“We may end up in a situation where the inmates are literally running the asylum and the people of Pierce County will absolutely not stand for it,” said Carrell. “Allowing the worst sexual psychopaths in the state to pilot ferries full of staff and families to the mainland is ludicrous. What’s next, do we put the rapists and child molesters on the island’s SWAT team?”

Inmates also maintain vessels, roads, power lines, buildings and grounds all over the island, serve as firefighters, deckhands on vessels, and assistants in the steam plant, wastewater treatment facility and elsewhere. According to the state Office of Financial Management Facility Closure Report, these inmates receive a stipend of 42¢ per hour and, except for inmate firefighters, cannot receive more than $55 per month. There are 149 minimum-security inmates serving in jobs solely related to island operations. At maximum stipend, the total cost for this inmate labor is about $100,000 a year.

Discounting for shortened work hours and that fact that some inmate jobs are part-time, it is estimated approximately 110 state employees would be needed to accomplish the same work. Using the middle step of the salary range for the appropriate job classes plus 35 percent for benefits, the annual cost of state employees doing the same work would be more than $5.4 million. The net increase in cost of using non-inmate labor is therefore approximately $5.3 million. This does not include supervisory personnel who would have to remain.

“If another legislator wants to volunteer his or her district to house the state’s worst criminal sex offenders, then we can return McNeil Island to its original use as a federally protected seal rookery,” said Carrell. “Otherwise, closing the prison will end up costing the state more money in the long run because we’ll have to hire more than a hundred people to do the work now being done by inmates.”

The proposal, called “outrageous” by Carrell, is included in the Senate operating budget, Senate Bill 6444, which passed the Senate 25-19 on Saturday. Carrell voted against the measure.