PORT ANGELES — The Clallam Bay Corrections Center is undertaking a monumental task: culture change.
The Clallam Bay Corrections Center (CBCC) is one of eight state prisons adopting a new program, the “Washington Way,” which aims to improve the lives of staff and incarcerated individuals through reformation.
The old “command and control” culture is out, CCBC superintendent Jeri Boe said.
In its place, the Washington Way is introducing a rehabilitative model focused on relationships and shared humanity.
The program has two main facets: improving staff wellness and improving the behavior of incarcerated individuals in solitary confinement.
Solitary confiement behaviors are addressed through a resource team, state Department of Corrections (DOC) Washington Way lieutenant Lance Graham said.
In July, five CBCC staff members (a sergeant, a psychology associate and four officers) volunteered to be on the CBCC resource team.
Some people joined the team because they believed in the program’s vision, Boe said. Others were enticed by the hours, although a little doubtful about the overall goals.
The initial training for the resource team was a 40-hour, week-long summit.
After just a few days, Boe said she witnessed a change in how staff presented themselves and interacted with incarcerated individuals. The biggest change she saw was in the people who had initially doubted the program.
Post-training, the resource team collectively identified individuals from restrictive housing (i.e., those in solitary confinement) to participate in rehabilitative sessions.
The single cell restrictive housing units contain “the most complex, challenging incarcerated individuals,” Graham said.
Participating in sessions gives the incarcerated individual human interaction and time outside their cell that they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten, Boe said.
Individuals in solitary confinement are allowed out of their cell for at least one hour every day, she added. Sometimes, that is all they get.
The selection process involves examining an individuals’ history in incarceration, their infractions, the behaviors that led them to solitary confinement and more.
The individual then engages in an interview process with the resource team. This process aims to learn about who a person is beyond just their representation on paper.
These initial conversations can be difficult, Graham said, due to the historical “us versus them” mentality.
“A lot of guys have a hard time sitting with cops,” he added.
Once the team is ready for a session, they meet with the incarcerated individual in a repurposed conference room, or the “resource room.” Each session is individually tailored by the team to meet the individual’s needs.
These sessions center around conversation. The group discusses goals, problems they’re facing, future hopes and more. Often, they’ll dive into more difficult topics – such as completing and discussing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) scores.
During the conversations, Graham said the resource team doesn’t just talk to the incarcerated individual — they talk with the person. Every individual in the room must to be willing to open up and be vulnerable.
“You come together as humans and have normal discussions about the things you’ve been through in life,” Graham said.
The sessions end with a card game or “some type of activity that provides decompression,” Boe said.
Afterwards, the resource team evaluates the good and bad of the session. Each person’s opinion is equally respected.
“With this environment, rank doesn’t matter,” Graham said. “This is vastly different from traditional corrections.”
The resource team’s end goal is to decrease problematic behavior and help individuals move from solitary confinement either to the general prison population or to out of incarceration completely.
While the resource team is focused on incarcerated individuals, benefits will also translate to staff who work in restrictive housing.
Restrictive housing is a “very chaotic environment” that can result in high tension and stress, Graham said.
If behaviors improve, he said staff will have better days “becuase they’re not dealing with the threat of violence, profanity, [etc.].”
CBCC’s resource team is currently working with five incarcerated individuals. Graham said the team could likely handle 12 to 13 people while still keeping the program meaningful.
Launching the resource team at CBCC cost approximately $800,000, DOC communications director Chris Wright said. Across all state facilities, the Legislature has allocated a total of $6 million for this program through next June, according to the Seattle Times.
The Washington Way also aims to improve staff wellness through voluntary training.
This training focuses on the program’s principles, how to be a change agent, the window of tolerance, staff empowerment, barrier removal and communication and de-escalation techniques.
The first Washington Way CBCC staff training is scheduled for Monday.
Afterwards, staff can choose to be part of a change agent group.
The change agent group will improve the facility’s specific culture by identifying ways to address specific institutional needs, according to Washington Way statewide program manager Courtney Grubb.
CBCC’s culture has historically had high violence, Boe said, and used to be known as the “’gladiator school’ as far as culture goes.”
If the Washington Way is effective, Boe said CBCC will be a safer environment for staff and incarcerated individuals.
This improved environment will hopefully have ripple effects on culture both inside and outside the prison, Boe said, with employees being better family members, neighbors and citizens.
This is especially important given that CBCC is one of the largest employers in the county, Boe added.
Elements of the Washington Way are based on rehabilitative principles that Norway introduced into its prison system in the 1990s, Grubb said. The project is also aided by Amend, a program based out of the University of California, San Fransisco.
Although Norway’s prison system is still working to change its culture, Grubb is hopeful that the Washington Way will see quicker acculturation – say, 10 years.
Grubb said the end goal is to see this program at all the prisons and reentry centers in the state. Eight out of 12 state prisons have adopted it.
The success of the program will be evaluated over the coming years by reports from both Amend and the University of California, Irvine, according to Grubb.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
