OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington state inmates would get help, and more cash, before being released from institutions under a bill that has passed the state Senate.
Senate Bill 5134 would require the Department of Corrections to work on reentry plans with offenders when they have one year remaining on their sentences.
The support could help inmates find future employment, locating housing, or getting connected with social services upon release, said the bill’s prime sponsor, Sen. Clare Wilson
”I know our institutions were created not to help people out of them, but to keep people in them. So what I believe my job is, is to disrupt those systems,” said Wilson, D-Auburn.
Wilson's bill would also increase the amount of money inmates are given when they leave state prisons.
Since 1971, inmates have received $40. Wilson's bill calls for that to be increased to $300. Wilson said that's what $40 in 1971 would be worth today.
JD Barton, who served more than 15 years in juvenile and adult facilities, said the additional support would help former inmates from reoffending.
“I support this bill, in full, in its entirety,” Baron told senators during a committee hearing in January, “I believe this bill can be a lifeline for so many getting ready to come out of our prison systems.
The bill passed off the Senate floor, 37-12.
The first hearing for the bill for a House committee is scheduled for Tuesday.