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By CorrectionsOne Staff Correctional officers working in Washington state prisons will have a lighter workload today. Budget woes in the state have forced Department of Corrections officials to lock down eight prisons statewide in an effort to place officers on unpaid furlough days. It’s a tactic that has been used elsewhere, most notably in California, where a state judge ruled the practice illegal after state corrections officials used lockdowns to reduce prison costs. “This is just one of many unprecedented steps we’re taking to reduce spending and help the state overcome a historic budget crisis,” Washington Prisons Director Bernie Warner told the Associated Press. The lockdowns mean that inmates will be confined to their cells for the day, except for meals. If today’s experiment works, officials will call for one lockdown a month through the end of the fiscal year on June 30. Officials told AP that the number of guards in the cell blocks was not reduced. Furloughs were confined to officers who run education programs, drug treatment and work programs. Read the full story at SeattlePI.com
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