Washington state’s Department of Corrections has outlined plans to spend $1.3 million collected from prisoners for phone calls and other fees — money the state has been criticized for sitting on, as the dollars are meant to go to improving prisoner welfare, Washington State Standard reports. The spending would still represent only a small fraction of the $12 million the state has piled up in its Incarcerated Individual Betterment Fund. Prisoners’ families are dissatisfied with how the department wants to use the money. Under the state plan, the dollars will primarily go to facility beautification projects, music programs and the “Washington Way” program, which focuses on making prison life similar to life on the outside. While families are happy to see money going to things like toys in visitation areas for children, an advocate said the dollars spent on beautification could have been used for things like raincoats, workout equipment and other basic quality of life improvements for prisoners. “The people [in prison] would rather have things that would benefit them, versus going outside and seeing a rose plant,” said Kristel Monte, one of two family members of people in prison who sit on the Incarcerated Individual Betterment Fund advisory board. “It’s kind of a waste.”
The Department of Corrections said it asked prison managers to “consult their incarcerated population and family councils to brainstorm ideas” for how the funds could be used. Monte said her local family council never discussed brainstorming ideas for the fund, and other families have told her they didn’t know they could submit ideas. The Department of Corrections has not yet released its full budget for the fund for this fiscal year, which started July 1 and ends next June. The $1.3 million covers the first quarter of the fiscal year, which ended in September. Funds from the first quarter have not yet been spent. Still, it’s the most the Department of Corrections has planned to spend from the fund in recent history, Monte said. She believes the agency decided to spend down the fund because they’re worried the legislature will want to use the money. Many family members are frustrated that the Department of Corrections did not expand a transportation and lodging reimbursement program, a request Monte said has been pending for at least two years. Family members can get up to $50 reimbursed per visit twice a month, but they must choose between transportation or lodging per reimbursement, and can’t use the money for both.
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