The incentives. They don’t really exist. There are three basic custody levels in WA State: closed, medium, and minimum. But they generally just mean the amount of security and control, not privileges or incecntives. I had more privileges at Clallam Bay, a medium and closed facility, then here at Stafford Creek, a minimum and medium one. In fact, I was amazed when I finally arrived in minimum after all these years. It’s childishly petty. And there is essentially NO difference here between medium and minimum, and so no real reason to want to reach the goal of minimum.
Nowadays, too, it seems like prisons are too interested in treating every inmate equally, with equal privileges. But inmates in in different custody levels should NOT have equal privileges.
So I would recommend a more incentive-based program. Not goodies handed out at taxpayer expense, of course, but more privileges for lower custody levels, and less for higher. This not only gives inmates a goal to reach for, but it also teaches them about responsibility and self-achievement. Do well, and you get good things; do poorly, and the results aren’t so great. Just like real life.
Dan Turner
DOC# 767569
