STATE OF WASHINGTON

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
P. O. Box 41101Olympia, Washington 98504-1101Tel (360) 725-8810

June 29, 2017

Thank you for your support of T.E.A.C.H. at Clallam Bay Corrections Center. I did attend the
community meeting that took place on June 12, 2017. I appreciated the opportunity to hear from
community members about the value of the T.E.A.C.H. as well as seeing the support for the
Black Prisoners Caucus and its good work to support the men in our prisons.

I asked staff to review our security policies limiting the time that the incarcerated men can
volunteer with programs. I agreed during the meeting that we would not move anyone from
T.E.A.C.H. due to a policy driven time limit until that review had taken place. Additionally,
Assistant Secretary Herzog has converted T.E.A.C.H. Facilitator positions to paid positions
and approved an extension for the volunteer facilitators until the completion of a statewide policy
review.

Much work has been done to review those policies since the community meeting on June 12, but
a formal policy revision will take some time. This particular policy was born out of tragedy and
part of a safety mitigation plan that resulted from the murder of a corrections officer in 2011. I
do however, see the value in peer led programs and will create some more room within our
policies to support opportunities to our incarcerated men and women to contribute or give back
to their communities while in prison. Thank you for your correspondence.

Sincerely,

Stephen Sinclair
Secretary

Working Together for SAFE Communities