The Blog

Photo of Bernie Warner Bernie Warner, Secretary, Department of Corrections

02/17/12

Operating a Prisons Division 24/7 is difficult even under ideal conditions. Operating 12 prisons during a natural disaster raises the bar even higher. As the recent brutal snowstorm proved, our staff at the Department of Corrections always manages to pull together and overcome adversity.

The challenges we faced were daunting. Cedar Creek Corrections Center in Thurston County was cut off from supplies by downed trees and no phone service. A malfunctioning fuel tank meant the facility had limited fuel for its emergency generator and was running out of supplies, including food and water.

Washington Corrections Center for Women near Gig Harbor had a skeleton staff due in part to the closure of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Superintendent Jane Parnell spent four nights at the facility along with other staff members who worked 16-hour days to cover for staff members who couldn’t make it in to work.

Yet, the staff pulled through. Offender work crews at Cedar Creek worked 18-hour days to clear a 5-mile stretch of the main road so the facility could receive food, fuel and supplies. Headquarters Human Resources staff came in to process payroll despite the building closure and power outage. And at Monroe Correctional Complex, in the midst of dealing with their own staffing shortages and weather-related issues, staff stepped up to operate the warrants desk while Headquarters was out of power.

The Emergency Operations Center at Headquarters was up and running each day to coordinate efforts. Headquarters maintained contact with each prison Incident Command Post to make sure the facilities and field offices got the supplies, staff and information they needed. As usual, the staff found innovative solutions. Downed power lines didn’t even stop the flow of information. At one point, the Headquarters Emergency Operations Center communicated with Cedar Creek through a staff member’s On Star system in their car.

Correctional Industries, which did not have power at its Headquarters in Tumwater, managed to deliver food, supplies and clean laundry to prisons that were impacted by the snowstorm. When their delivery trucks couldn’t make the trip, staff members loaded the necessary supplies in to 4-wheel-drive SUVs and made critical deliveries.

We even managed to help local communities during the natural disaster. When Jeri Boe, Supervisor of the Port Angeles field office, learned that the local emergency shelter had to destroy all of its mattresses due to a bedbug infestation, she coordinated with Clallam Bay Corrections Center to provide about 20 mattresses for the homeless shelter. Our offender work crews were also out in communities helping to clear sidewalks, and remove downed trees.

For prisons and field offices that weren’t hit quite as hard by the storm, there were low numbers of unscheduled absences due to the weather. Community Corrections managed to continue to make arrests and issue detainers for offenders during the storm. And despite the extreme conditions and limited movement at some prisons, there were very few offender grievances or disturbances.

These are just a few examples of actions our staff took to get us through a snowstorm that could have easily crippled our operations. This just gives me even more reason to be proud of the staff we have at the Department of Corrections.