Senator Mike Padden and Senator Steve O’Ban hold a press conference regarding the Department of Corrections investigation.
OLYMPIA – The Senate Law and Justice Committee marked the start of formal hearings Monday regarding the Department of Corrections by releasing thousands of pages of documents that have been generated by subpoenas and a legislative effort to reach out to agency employees.
Documents were released at a Monday-morning news conference that preceded the first public investigatory hearing in the case. Four witnesses are scheduled to give testimony Monday, under oath, as lawmakers probe the agency’s improper early release of more than 3,200 prisoners.
The unusual hearing is the first in a series by the Law and Justice Committee to gather evidence in an investigation of the agency’s management failure. Two felons await trial on charges they killed people when they should have been behind bars. Numerous other crimes also were committed by inmates who were released early, according to an incomplete analysis by the Department of Corrections. The releases took place over 13 years, and continued even after the department became aware of the problem in 2012. The problem was revealed publicly last Dec. 22.
“We take this breach seriously, and in the interest of transparency we want to make sure the public sees the information that has been provided to us,” said Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, chairman of the Senate Law and Justice Committee. “Rather than waiting for the inevitable public records requests, we thought it was best to make a general release.”
Among the documents released Monday were those produced under two subpoenas issued by the Senate, one to the governor’s office and another to the Department of Corrections. They also include nearly 300 comments from Department of Corrections employees who responded to the committee’s “FixDOC” query. The committee emailed all DOC employees Feb. 4 asking for their insight into the agency’s management problems.
Padden and committee vice chair Steve O’Ban, R-Pierce County, said they have heard many expressions of support for the independent Senate investigation from Department of Corrections employees – not just from front-line workers but from the current and former DOC workers who are being interviewed. The governor also has launched his own investigation, but the interviews are not in public and the subjects are not permitted to review statements attributed to them.
“We’ve heard from one source that the Senate process has come as a relief to those who are being interviewed,” O’Ban said. “They are allowed to review their statements to verify that the investigators have summarized their comments accurately. The governor’s office isn’t doing this, and witnesses have been concerned. In the Senate, we want to make sure the process is fair to all involved.”
The initial hearing, which starts at 12:30 p.m., focuses on the reaction from the Department of Corrections when it was notified of its error in 2012. Four people are scheduled to testify. They are:
— Matthew Mirante, Sr., who notified the Department of Corrections in 2012 that its sentencing calculations were incorrect.
— Wendy Stigall, records program administrator for the Department of Corrections.
— Sue Schuler, IT specialist/business analyst for the Department of Corrections.
— Ronda Larsen, assistant attorney general who advised the Department of Corrections.