Report recommends closing several state care facilities

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A report prepared for the state Office of Financial Management recommended the closure of several state facilities that care for those with developmental disabilities.

Among the recommendations were the closure of Rainier School in Pierce County, closing Francis Haddon Morgan Center in Bremerton, and closing the Ahtanum View Corrections Center in Yakima.

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The following are detailed recommendations from the report as outlined in a news release:

Department of Corrections

• Close the old main institution (the original prison behind the concrete walls built in the late 1800s, but not any of the additions, including North Close, the intensive management unit, the minimum-security unit and administration buildings) at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. Total beds reduced in this option is 1,653, which includes the closure of Ahtanum View Corrections Center in Yakima and half of Larch Corrections Center in Yacolt. Three close/medium custody units at the Penitentiary could be closed if changes are made to state sentencing policy.

OR

• Downsize McNeil Island to a minimum-security facility. Total beds reduced in this option is 1,618, which includes the closure of Ahtanum View Corrections Center in Yakima. All of Larch Corrections Center in Yacolt and two close/medium custody units at the Penitentiary could be closed if changes are made to state sentencing policy.

If $41 million in capital funding is appropriated to build a medium-security unit and a close-custody unit, and to expand the kitchen, all at the Penitentiary, then the consultant's recommendation is to choose the option to close the old main institution at the Penitentiary.

The 100 elderly, medically fragile offenders at Ahtanum View would transfer to a minimum-security unit at the Monroe Corrections Complex.

Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration

• Close Maple Lane School in Rochester, which would result in the proviso-mandated reduction of 235 beds.

Developmental Disabilities Division (residential rehabilitation centers)

• Close all beds for intermediate-care facilities at all facilities over an eight-year period.
• Close, in phases, Francis Haddon Morgan Center in Bremerton by 2013.
• Close, in phases, Rainier School in Buckley by 2017.
• Keep open Fircrest, Lakeland Village and Yakima Valley with a small number of skilled nursing facility beds.