Glossary and Acronyms
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Absconder: Refers to an offender under court or ISRB jurisdiction who has failed to make required contact with the Community Corrections Officer and can't be located, fails to return to Washington State when ordered, or a reinstated parolee serving sanction in Pre-Release/Work Release who fails to return to the facility or leaves without authorization. The abscond status begins on the date the Community Corrections Officer confirms the offender's departure and ends on the date of apprehension/arrest.
American Correctional Association (ACA): A private, nonprofit organization that, along with the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections (ACA), administers the only national accreditation program for all components of adult and juvenile corrections
Betterment Activities: Those activities which contribute to the betterment of the offender population. These activities may enhance the security and orderly operation of an institution by reducing idleness and may encourage positive development of community ties.
Case Management: A Department-wide system wherein comprehensive case management plans are developed for offenders at initial placement and continue through reduced custody and community supervision. The plans attempt to match the offender with the best resources available for that offender's needs consistent with custody designation and facility placement assignment.
Case Management Team: Case Manager, Classification/Correctional Counselors, Community Corrections Officers, and Correctional Mental Health Counselors.
Chemical Dependency Screening: Used to identify offenders as either having a high or low probability of being chemically dependent for the purpose of referral for chemical dependency assessment. The Department's chemical dependency program uses the substance Subtle Abuse Screening Inventory (SASSI) as its chemical dependency screening instrument.
Close Custody:Offenders considered high risk or exhibit behavior problems are placed under close supervision. New offenders also can be placed in close custody until they demonstrate how compliant they will be to directions and regulations. Close custody offers only limited opportunities to leave cells; activities and movement are limited. Supervision is intense.
Community Concerns: Information regarding the potential safety risks to specific individuals, or classes of individuals, posed by a specific offender provided by victims, witnesses, and other interested individuals.
Community Custody: An offender's supervision status in the community under the authority of the Department where the Department has the legal responsibility for adjudicating violations. Community Custody applies as follows:
- Community Placement-Community Custody. (That portion of an offender's sentence served in the community in lieu of good time credit.)
- Sex offenders who committed their crimes on or after June 6, 1996, and are sentenced to SSOSA. (The entire period of supervision is served on Community Custody status. Supervision is for three years or for the duration of the suspended sentence, whichever is greater.)
- Sex offenders who committed their crimes on or after June 6, 1996, and are committed to prison. (The entire period of supervision is served on Community Custody status. Supervision is for three years or for the duration of earned release time, whichever is greater.)
- Work Ethic Camp (WEC) graduates who are on Community Custody. (The portion of supervision up to the adjusted WEC maximum expiration date is served on Community Custody status. This is not in lieu of earned release time.)
Community Custody Past Maximum Expiration Date (CCM) Status: That period of required supervision beyond the maximum expiration date that is not CCI status for those sex offenders who commit their crimes on or after June 6, 1996, and are committed to the Department. These offenders are supervised on Community Custody status following their release for three years or for the duration of their earned time, whichever is longer. If released at any time prior to their maximum expiration date, their first supervision status (if Community Placement is ordered) will be CCI. When they reach their maximum expiration date, they will move to CCM status.
Community Placement: The intense monitoring of an offender in the community for at least one year after release/transfer from Department confinement. Community Placements consists of CCI status, Post-Release Supervision (PRS), or a combination of the two for eligible offenses committed on or after July 1, 1988 . For sex and serious violent offenders who commit their offenses after July 1, 1990, the period of Community Placement is two years or up to the period of earned early release credits awarded, whichever is longer. It can be served under CCI status, PRS, or CCM status.
Community Service: Compulsory service, without compensation, performed for the benefit of the community by the offender.
Community Supervision (CS): A period of time during which a convicted offender is subject to crime-related prohibitions and other sentence conditions imposed by a court. The supervision may include crime-related prohibitions and other conditions set by statute.
Concerned Citizen: A person who has safety concerns regarding a specific offender.
Contraband: Includes illegal items, explosives, deadly weapons, alcoholic beverages, drugs, tobacco products, controlled substances, and any item that is controlled, limited, or prohibited on the grounds or within the secure perimeter of a correctional facility as defined by Department and facility policy.
Creative Arts Programs: Programs offered to offenders that promote the positive use of leisure time; such as hobby craft, music, etc. These types of programs emphasize skill and intellectual activities.
Criminal Justice Partners: Individuals who work closely with the Department of Corrections to improve the criminal justice system and respond to local, state, and federal criminal justice needs.
Cultural/Religious Events: Martin Luther King Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans' Day, Cinco de Mayo, Native American Seasons, Thanksgiving; Christmas, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Ramadan, Wicca Seasons, Islamic Seasons.
Custody Designation: An assigned category achieved by objective scoring, including overrides, that defines the required staff supervision and security level of the facility placement.
Custody Review: A review of an offender's current custody designation, infraction behavior, program behavior, detainers, and escapes to determine a custody score and custody designation.
Deferred Sentence:A sentence of a convicted person in which, technically, the court puts off sentencing for a period of time under certain conditions.
Department Restitution: As determined by the Department Secretary, the offender may be ordered to pay for damages incurred by the offender either through the offender's negligence or willful acts as a result of sanctions imposed by a disciplinary hearing.
Deportation Detainer: An official hold lodged by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) requiring the offender's released to the authority.
Detainer: Detainers may range from request for notification upon release up to, and including, the intent to incarcerate an offender after release from Department confinement.
Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative (DOSA): An alternative treatment oriented sentence for offenders convicted of the Violation of the Uniform Controlled Substance Act (VUCSA) or solicitation to commit VUCSA or those offenders the court finds a chemical dependency has contributed to their offense
Earned Release Date (ERD): The projected date of an offender's release. It is based on the minimum term minus jail time credits minus earned early release time awarded by the jail in conjunction with the offender's conduct and programming resulting in the award of earned time and good conduct time by the Department. Using the time start date and calculating the award of earned time and good conduct time, the remainder of the minimum term is to be served and upon completion is the Earned Release Date.
Earned Release Time (ERT): The combined earned time and good conduct time credit an offender is eligible to earn off the minimum term established by the ISRB or the sentencing court.
End of Sentence Review (ESR): A review of sex and specific high-risk offenders, based of the requirements of the Community Protection Act, prior to release from Department confinement.
End of Sentence Review Committee (ESRC): An administrative committee with representatives from the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board (ISRB), Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), and the Department who review, assess, and make decisions and recommendations on sex and high-risk offenders being released from Department confinement. The ESRC is also responsible for classifying all sex offenders into risk levels for the purpose of public notification.
Facility: A prison or work release, which is owned, operated, or managed by or provides services on behalf of the Department.
Facility Administrator: Any superintendent, administrator, supervisor, or manager of an office or facility operated by OCO, or the individual authorized or designated by the administrator to act in such a capacity.
Felony Harassment Offense: A felony which may include, but is not limited to, any of the following crimes; Harassment; Malicious Harassment; Telephone Harassment; Assault 1, 2, 3, and 4; Assault of a Child 1 and 2; Reckless Endangerment 2; Extortion 1 and 2; Coercion; Burglary 1 and 2; Criminal Trespass 1 and 2; Malicious Mischief 1, 2, and 3; Kidnapping 1 and 2; Unlawful Imprisonment; Rape 1, 2, and 3; Indecent Liberties; Rape of a Child 1, 2, and 3; Child Molestation 1, 2, and 3; Stalking; and Residential Burglary.
Good Conduct Time: That portion of time an offender is eligible to earn by behaving pro-socially (i.e., not receiving serious infractions as listed in WAC 137 -28 and WAC 137-56).
Gratuity: Amounts paid to offenders for work in Class II, III, and IV Correctional Industries' offender work programs. The offenders are not employees of the Department and the gratuity is not a wage.
Grievance: A written, formalized complaint submitted by an individual on his/her own behalf.
Headquarters Community Screening Committee (HCSC): An inter-divisional, inter-agency committee which addresses classification issues when staff have concerns regarding community risk and/or mental health. All Mutual Agreement Program (MAP) cases, ISRB Disciplinary, .Hearing requests, commutation/clemency/pardon requests, work release denials, and custody promotions for those previously assigned custody by HCSC must be reviewed by HCSC.
Health Authority: A physician, health administrator, or agency, designated in writing, who is responsible for the provision of health care services at a facility or system of facilities.
Health Care Provider: A person who is licensed, certified, registered, or otherwise authorized by the law of this state to provide health care in the ordinary course of business or practice of a profession.
Health Record Custodian: Includes, but is not limit to, the medical records administrator/personnel, facility Superintendent/Supervisor, administrator, office or unit Supervisor, or Correctional Records Manager.
Hispanic Offender: Any Spanish speaking offender who is not able to communicate in the English language.
Illegal Items: Items which are unlawful for any person to possess within the community as defined by the laws of the state of Washington; controlled substances, or any weapon, firearm, or any instrument which, if used, could produce serious bodily injury to another, prescription drugs, homemade weapons and stolen property.
Immediate Family: Parents, stepparents, parent surrogates, legal guardians, grandparents, spouses, brothers, sisters, half or stepbrothers or sisters, children, stepchildren and dependents who might not be in a direct lineal relationship.
Incentive Pay: Payment to offenders in Class II or IV industries, based on productivity criteria and paid separately from the hourly wage/gratuity rate.
Inmate: An offender housed in a correctional facility.
Inmate Personal Identification Number (IPIN): An eight-digit number assigned to each offender confined at a major, minimum, or pre-release facility by the IPIN Administration Office located at Headquarters. The IPIN is required in order for offenders to access the telephones.
Issuing Authority: Secretary, Deputy Secretaries, Regional Administrators, and Superintendents for their respective areas/facilities of responsibility.
Mandatory Minimum Term: That portion of an SRA offender's sentence which is determined either by offense or sentence enhancement, defined by RCW 9.9 A.120, during which time ERT credits shall not be earned.
Maximum Custody: Offenders are confined to their one-person cells except for daily showers and an hour of recreation by themselves. All movement takes place in restraints, such as handcuffs. The availability of radios, television sets and other amenities depends upon good behavior. Offenders who threaten the security of the prison or who represent danger to prison staff or other offenders are placed in maximum custody. Offenders in danger of being attacked by other inmates also are placed in maximum custody. Supervision is intense.
Medium Custody: Compliant offenders who are working and participating in prison programs such as education and chemical dependency treatment are placed in medium custody. They are allowed more time out of their cells and there is less supervision.
Minimum Custody: Offenders in minimum custody have more liberty, jobs requiring a high level of responsibility and more control over their personal time. They may work outside the prison on such jobs as planting trees and fighting forest fires. Supervision may be indirect for brief periods of time.
Minor: Person under 18 years of age.
National Crime Information Center (NCIC): A center that provides current information on wanted/missing persons; stolen/impounded/abandoned vehicles and vehicle parts; stolen/pawned/recovered articles; securities, boats, and stolen/missing and recovered guns on a national basis.
Offender:An individual who: 1) is currently under the jurisdiction of the Department; or 2) has been discharged from the jurisdiction of the Department within the past six months.
Offender Change Program: A programmed offender intervention designed to change behavior, thinking, and attitudes known to contribute to criminality.
Order to Withhold and Deliver (OWD): A legal document for the purpose of seeking information about an offender and/or ordering the transfer of all available offender funds owed to the issuing party.
Out of State (OOS): Washington State cases being supervised in another state under the Interstate Compact Agreement.
Override: A classification action initiated at the facility where the offender is assigned that requests a custody designation and a facility placement assignment more or less restrictive than the offender's scored custody designation.
Parole Suspension Warrant: A document issued by the Community Corrections Officer or Indeterminate Sentence Review Board ordering the arrest/detention of an offender without bail.
Persistent Prison Misbehavior: A crime committed by an offender who is serving a sentence for an offense committed on or after August 1, 1995 and knowingly commits a serious infraction, that does not constitute a class A or class B felony, after losing all potential earned early release time credit.
Post Release Supervision (PRS): That portion of an offender's community placement that is not community custody.
Potential Risk Level: One of five categories of risk/needs designated by Multi-Health Systems, Inc., that correspond to the total LSI-R assessment/reassessment score.
Program Providers: May be Department staff, contractors, and/or volunteers with a staff sponsor.
Protective Custody: Administrative segregation of an offender based on specific verifiable information due to an offender's high risk of being assaulted or victimized based on the nature/notoriety of crime, physical/mental vulnerability or situations arising during incarceration.
Reception Center: The unit at the Washington Corrections Center (WCC) or Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) where offenders are received into the Department for classification and further assignment.
Record: Any written or electronic information relating to the conduct of the Department or the performance of its function which is prepared, owned, used, or retained by the agency, regardless of physical form or characteristics.
Religious Vendor: A denominational publisher recognized by the Department; a local congregation affiliated with a religion recognized by the Department; a non-profit or para-church religious organization recognized by the Department; a licensed commercial retail outlet that routinely supplies religious items to the public; and a governmental agency or sub-agency recognized by the Department as a religious vendor.
Religious Volunteer: A member of the community who is recognized by an appropriate religious authority who has been accepted, trained, and registered under the Department's Community Involvement Program for the purpose of providing services or other volunteer activity in a religious related area.
Review Committee: Facility staff who review the classification recommendations made by the unit team/designated staff and subsequently make a recommendation to the Superintendent.
Secretary's Warrant: A written order by the Secretary of the Department to any sheriff, police, peace officer, law enforcement officer, and community corrections officer to arrest and detain offenders in violation of community custody pursuant to RCW 9.94A.207.
Separatee: Administrative separation of offenders who may be aggressors, victims of aggressors or a threat to the orderly operation of a facility.
Serious Drug Offense: Manufacture, deliver, or possess with intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance classified as a Schedule I or II Narcotic (RCW69.50.140(a)(1)(I)) or create, deliver, or possess a counterfeit substance classified in Schedule I or II Narcotic Drug (RCW 69.50.140(b)(1 )(I)).
Sex Offender: An offender who has committed a sex felony (I.e., Rape 1, 2, 3; Rape of a Child 1, 2, 3; Child Molestation 1, 2, 3; Sexual misconduct with a Minor 1, 2; Indecent Liberties; Incest), a criminal attempt, criminal solicitation, or criminal conspiracy to commit such crimes; a felony with a finding of sexual motivation; any federal or out-of-state conviction for an offense that under laws of the state of Washington would be a felony classified as a sex offense.
Sex Offense: Those crimes defined by RCW 9A.44, RCW 9A.64.020, RCW 9.68A.090, or under RCW 9A.28, a criminal attempt, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit such crimes.
Sexually Violent Predator (offender): An offender who has been convicted of, or charged with, a crime of sexual violence and who suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder which makes the offender likely to engage in acts directed toward a stranger or individual with whom a relationship has been established for the primary purpose of sexual violence and victimization.
Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative (SSOSA): An alternative to sentencing which permits the court to suspend the sentence of certain sex offenders and requires them to participate in treatment and community supervision.
Special Visit: A visit granted when there is a special need which cannot be satisfied through normal procedures.
Spouse: Husband or wife as defined or recognized under Washington State Law.
Time Start Date: For Sentencing Reform Act offenders, this is the date they arrive at either Washington Corrections Center for Women or Washington Corrections Center Reception Center. For ISRB offenders, this is the date established as the time start by the ISRB.
Unit Team: Facility staff who meet with the offender to address classification issues and make recommendations.
Victim: A person, or next of kin if the crime was a homicide, who has sustained physical or financial injury to person or property as a direct result of the crime charged.
Violent Offense: A felony defined under law as a Class A felony or an attempt to commit a Class A felony, criminal solicitation of, or criminal conspiracy to commit, a Class A felony; Manslaughter 1* and 2; Indecent Liberties if committed by forcible compulsion; Child Molestation 1; Rape 2; Kidnapping 2; Arson 2; Assault 2; Extortion 1; Robbery 2; Vehicular Assault and Vehicular Homicide when proximately cause by the driving of any vehicle by an person under the influence of any vehicle in a reckless manner; Drive-by Shooting. *Manslaughter 1 was re-designated as a serious violent offense (1997 legislation) and is a Class A felony.
Volunteer Activities: Activities performed in the community during the employee's time off work.
Warrant Service Area: The extradition area where a Secretary's Warrant is served for the arrest and detention of an offender based on the offender's risk level.
Washington Crime Information Center (WACIC): A center that provides current information on wanted/missing persons; stolen/impounded/abandoned vehicles and vehicle parts; stolen/pawned/recovered articles; stolen/missing and recovered guns; restraining orders (both domestic violence and anti-harassment); and license investigations in Washington State.
Work Ethic Camp (WEC): An alternative incarceration program designed to provide offenders with a comprehensive array of real-world job and vocational experiences, character-building work ethic training, life-management skills development, substance abuse rehabilitation, counseling, literacy training, and basic adult education.
Work Ethic Program (WEP): An alternative incarceration program designed to provide offenders with a comprehensive array of real-world job and vocational experiences, character-building work ethic training, life-management skills development, substance abuse rehabilitation, counseling, literacy training, and basic adult education while incarcerated and while on Community Custody.
Youthful Offender: Any person under the age of 18 who is tried, convicted, sentenced as an adult, and incarcerated in an adult correctional facility.
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