The Battle Ground City Council is the latest local government agency to oppose the closure of Larch Corrections Center following unanimous approval of a resolution last week.
During the Aug. 7 meeting the City Council voted on the resolution requesting the Washington State Department of Corrections continue operations at the prison. The department announced June 26 it would be closing the facility on the east side of Clark County this fall.
The City Council didn’t have any discussion on the resolution before making a unanimous vote to approve. The resolution points to education opportunities and community partnerships reducing recidivism among the facility’s inmate population as some of the reasons to keep it operating.
The resolution also notes many employees of Larch live in or near Battle Ground, meaning potential displacement of city residents. The city hosted a meeting of concerned community members July 6 who crowded the Battle Ground Community Library.
The resolution also addresses Larch’s role in the management of forestland in the region. It cites the roughly 239,000 acres of the 1902 Yacolt Burn and the most-recent Nakia Creek Fire last year that led to hundreds of evacuations.
Blazes in the area receive support by Larch inmates who are trained by the state Department of Natural Resources in firefighting. With Clark County’s growing population, more residents are moving into areas that will be more affected by fires, the resolution stated.
“The City Council strongly urges the Department of Corrections to reverse the decision to close Larch correctional facility,” the resolution stated.
Battle Ground’s resolution will be sent to the office of the state Department of Commerce and Gov. Jay Inslee’s office.
The City Council’s legislation follows a similar resolution unanimously approved by Clark County Council July 25. The county leaders had much of the same concerns over the loss of the facility’s programs for inmates and its strategic location for fighting forest fires.
The decision to close Larch also drew a response from one of Battle Ground’s representatives in Olympia. State Rep. Greg Cheney called the decision “surprising and shortsighted” in a July 13 release, specifically with regard to forest fire response.
The Republican also questioned the timing of the decision, coming weeks after a 105-day “long” session of the Washington state Legislature and a subsequent special session. Public safety was a major focus of both.
“There was ample time for DOC to give legislators a detailed briefing and receive public testimony from the community, the employees and the businesses that will be impacted by this decision,” Cheney said in the release. “We never got that.”
He wondered if department leadership was waiting until state lawmakers were out of Olympia to avoid legislators’ input, calling the timing “very suspect.”
Cheney said the announcement of the impending closure during the wildfire season was demoralizing to firefighting crews as a whole.
“This training and experience has led to real-world skills resulting in jobs for inmates once they’ve paid their debt to society,” Cheney said. “How will this be replaced? Are we leaving holes in our future wildfire fighting capabilities? Will there be other significant training options that can lead to careers after leaving DOC confinement?”
Cheney would have appreciated a briefing on plans to replace the resource, but “that never happened,” he said.
