S-0206.1
SENATE BILL 5409
State of Washington
69th Legislature
2025 Regular Session
By Senators C. Wilson, Boehnke, Hasegawa, Nobles, Saldaña, and Trudeau
Read first time 01/22/25. Referred to Committee on Human Services.
AN ACT Relating to a pilot program creating a healthier environment for correctional officers, department of corrections staff, and individuals within a correctional facility; adding a new section to chapter 72.09 RCW; creating a new section; and providing an expiration date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature recognizes that incarceration has negative physical and mental health impacts on correctional officers, department of corrections staff, and incarcerated individuals. Nationally, the average life expectancy of a correctional officer is 59 years old, which is 16 years shorter than those who do not work in corrections. Further, the legislature recognizes that suicide rates for correctional officers are 39 percent higher than the national working age population. Incarcerated individuals experience more illness than those who are not incarcerated. The legislature finds that a more normal and overall healthier environment while incarcerated better prepares people for reentry and helps ensure that the prison environment is not harmful to the people who work there.
(2) Therefore, the legislature intends to create a pilot program that will improve the working conditions for department of corrections staff and a healthier environment for the incarcerated population to focus on reentering communities with the tools needed to be successful. The legislature intends for the program to reduce risks identified by the department including preventing violent behavior that harms members of the public, reducing recidivism, reducing stress and therefore improving health outcomes for department staff and incarcerated individuals, improving security within department facilities, improving communication and voluntary compliance with infectious disease control measures, reducing employee illness and injury, reducing violence among incarcerated individuals and against department staff, and improving recruitment and retention of a qualified workforce.