Corrections

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Overview

The mission of the Corrections Division is to work with and support its partners in the criminal justice community.  Corrections Division staff represents and advises the Department of Corrections (DOC), the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board (ISRB), the Governor’s Clemency and Pardons Board and the Governor’s Office with regard to extraditions and detainers. Corrections Division staff also handles all federal habeas corpus petitions that result from state felony convictions, including cases involving the death penalty. Additionally, the Corrections Division's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit works with federal, state and local law enforcement and other governmental partners to investigate and criminally and civilly prosecute theft and fraud within the Medicaid program. 

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Legal Services Provided

Civil Rights Unit:  This unit represents DOC and its employees in state and federal court litigation concerning the operation of the state's prison system.  Actions handled by this unit often involve inmate constitutional rights claims associated with conditions of confinement, access to courts, freedom of speech, freedom of religious exercise, and due process of law, as well as inmate claims asserted under Washington's Public Records Act.  The unit also defends the state against personal restraint proceedings filed by inmates challenging administrative or disciplinary action taken against them by DOC and advises DOC staff in many areas, including search and seizure, access to courts and public disclosure.

Sentencing/Habeas Corpus Unit:  This unit represents the state and DOC in challenges to the fact or duration of confinement resulting from a state court felony conviction.  A key responsibility of this unit is to represent the state in federal habeas corpus litigation brought by state prisoners, including those under a death sentence.  Unit staff represents DOC in post-sentence petitions, which involve correcting errors in criminal judgments and sentences.  They also represent the ISRB in challenges to its discretionary decisions relating to release of offenders under its jurisdiction.  Sentencing/Habeas Corpus Unit attorneys also advise the Governor's Office on interstate extradition matters.

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