News

Q&A with Department of Corrections

Question and Answer with KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Amy Clancy and Norah West of the Department of Corrections:

How many CCOs (Community Correction Officers) are in WA State?        

611

How many offenders are currently being supervised? 

15,311 statewide

What is the average number of offenders per CCO?      

This depends on location, type of offender and other factors, but the range is between 15-30 offenders on caseloads.

How have recent budget cuts to the DOC impacted CCOs?              

Between July and August 2009, we dropped roughly 14,500 offenders from supervision, leaving us with the most violent and most likely to commit new crimes. More than a third (36.5 percent) of the offenders on supervision are classified as high risk to commit a violent crime, and 29.6 percent are at high risk to commit a non-violent crime. We also dropped from roughly 1100 community corrections officers to 611. Our CCOs have incredibly challenging work.

For what crimes have offenders currently on supervision typically served time for?   

The majority of offenders currently are being supervised for drug crimes (27.9 percent), assault (22 percent), sex crimes (19.4 percent) and property crimes (16.8 percent). “Other/unknown,” robbery, murder and manslaughter comprise the remaining percentages.