Community Corrections Officers Matthew Anderson (center) and Jim Furchert (right) check in with Roger Lattimer on Thursday outside the Everett Gospel Mission on Smith Avenue. Since its inception in 2012, the Department of Corrections’ “Swift and Certain” policy, which puts offenders behind bars from 1 to 30 days for infractions, has helped reduce parole violations. With the policy, “these guys know they could lose their house, their jobs,” Anderson said. “It’s more immediate. ‘Hey, you messed up but we want to work with you.’ ”

Community Corrections Officers Matthew Anderson (center) and Jim Furchert (right) check in with Roger Lattimer on Thursday outside the Everett Gospel Mission on Smith Avenue. Since its inception in 2012, the Department of Corrections’ “Swift and Certain” policy, which puts offenders behind bars from 1 to 30 days for infractions, has helped reduce parole violations. With the policy, “these guys know they could lose their house, their jobs,” Anderson said. “It’s more immediate. ‘Hey, you messed up but we want to work with you.’ ”

‘Swift and Certain’ police helps keep parolees accountable

  • By Eric Stevick Herald Writer
  • Monday, May 16, 2016 7:17pm
  • Local News

EVERETT — He greeted them as though they were old friends dropping in for a social call.

The stocky man led the women into the halfway house.

“This is where I live,” he said, walking into a sparsely decorated room with a cast-iron radiator against a wall.

They made small talk as the community corrections officers scanned his room.

Officer Andrea Holmes said she’d bring the Everett man a calendar to keep track of his medical, counseling and support-group appointments.

A smoker, he asked if there is any chance he’ll be able to get a lighter one of these days.

Not now, Holmes told him with good reason. He has two arson convictions.

As cordial as the conversation was, the visitors kept a professional distance.

The man’s rap sheet dates back a quarter century to his teens in Los Angeles. He also has a history of mental illness that at one point included delusions of large growling green aliens. He also was convinced he could control the sun and change the weather.

The Everett man is 41. He’s one of more than 17,000 felons in the state on community supervision and was one of many stops Holmes and fellow community corrections officer Darcell Prescott made on this day in early May.

When a visitor asked the man about “Swift and Certain,” a state Department of Corrections policy that can take back his freedom for minor violations, he nodded.

It’s always in the back of his mind, he said.

“I understand it,” he said, before breaking into a smile, “I’m allergic to that right now.”

He’s been doing well, Holmes said. He’s coping and better able to recognize when he’s getting anxious and needs to seek out help.

Washington began using “Swift and Certain” in 2012, partly to address a budget crisis. It imposes brief but immediate punishment behind bars for felons under supervision who violate conditions of their release. Those can include not reporting to corrections officers, failing drug tests or missing treatment.

The idea is to crank up accountability with quick incarceration. Most stays are in the one- to three-day range, but they increase up to 30 days based on the frequency and the seriousness of the violation. The jailings typically are a lot shorter for probation violations than they were before the policy was adopted.

The goals behind the policy are multifold: to reduce the number of violations and sanctions resulting in confinement; to cut down on parolees committing new crimes; to increase the number of offenders getting drug and alcohol treatment; and to save money.

A recent Washington State University study found all those objectives are being met.

The likelihood of ending up back behind bars dipped by roughly 20 percent and the duration was reduced by an average of 16 days during an offender’s first year of release from prison.

Offenders also were more likely to get substance abuse and behavioral therapy.

Anmarie Aylward, the state’s assistant secretary overseeing community corrections, said offenders are understanding the rules and changing their behaviors.

There is little wiggle room for interpretation.

“The consequence is on them,” Aylward said.

These days, local violators are taken to a separate lockup at the Monroe Correctional Complex. The unit has 100 beds. The state tries to keep it at 85.

“We can definitely fill it and we have filled it,” said Kelly Miller, Northwest Region Field administrator for the corrections department. Her territory stretches from Snohomish County to the Canadian border.

Holmes and Prescott were community corrections officers before and after “Swift and Certain” was adopted.

Prescott likes that the rules set “clear boundaries and expectations,” she said. That works well in most cases. However, like many other officers, she thinks it is important to have some level of discretion. There are times when they don’t want to see some offenders with special circumstances lose ground when they are making progress and risk losing momentum in treatment and counseling.

“Sometimes it seems like jail doesn’t make sense,” she said.

The WSU report made a similar observation, saying “Swift and Certain might not be appropriate for all offender types, including those with significant mental health diagnoses and active drug-alcohol addictions.”

The state has been trying to address those concerns.

It has established two work crew pilot programs, including one in Everett, where offenders are able to avoid lockup and remain in the community. Some can be seen picking up trash along highways.

Miller, who oversees the community corrections office in Everett, said “Swift and Certain” is making a difference.

Data has shown a reduction in recidivism, which was Miller’s biggest fear four years ago when the change was made.

“That structure and consistency is what works,” she said.

Washington is the only place to use “Swift and Certain” statewide, although similar programs are found in other parts of the country.

These days corrections leaders from other states are taking a look at Washington and asking questions about the shorter, more predictable punishments that seem to work.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.