Washington courts awarded a settlement of $1,262,500 to prisoners and former prisoners who lost their personal property when the Department of Corrections moved them to a different prison. In the 1990s, DOC policy stated that the Department would only transfer two property boxes when an incarcerated person was moved. If the people or their families had money, they had to pay to have the rest of the property shipped. For folks who didn’t have money to ship their things, their belongings were destroyed or donated.

In 2005, the state Supreme Court determined that Washington law required all shipping to be paid for by the DOC. The legislature then passed a law permitting the DOC to determine what kinds of property it would pay to ship.

At least 20,000 – 30,000 people may fall under the settlement which allows up to $75 per person as reimbursement for shipping costs or lost property. The Washington Department of Corrections should make notices available in the prisons’ law libraries and notifications are supposed to be mailed to people who may be eligible.

This news brief is based on a story in the Olympian, Past, Current Inmates Win Settlement on Shipping [1]. If the link is broken, check the newspaper’s archives.