House Bill 2688 [1], if passed, would prohibit the transfer of some Washington prisoners to prisons outside of the state. The bill focuses on fathers (women are not transferred to out-of-state prisons), and would include men who took part in extended family visits, who participated in parent-teacher conferences, and who had at least six in-person visits or telephone calls with their children in the six months prior to the proposed transfer.

Washington State incarcerates over 18,000 men and women, and there’s not enough room in the state’s prisons to hold them all. Close to 1,200 men are in private prisons in other states. The state has been expanding its prison system, and prison officials estimate that out-of-state prisoners could be returned to state prisons by 2009.

HB 2688 was drafted on behalf of family members of prisoners out of concern that the prisoners would be transferred away from their children. Forty people attended the hearing on the bill. The bill’s primary sponsor is Representative Mary Helen Roberts.

This news brief is based on a story in the News Tribune, Bill would exempt fathers from transfers to out-of-state prisons [2]. If the link is broken, check the newspaper’s archives. You can read more about HB 2688 on the Washington State Legislature’s web page [3].