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Facts, Outcomes, & Research... Useful for Managing

INMATE INCIDENTS FOR 2002, 2003, & 2004
BY CLINT CATRON

An incident, as defined by Department of Corrections (DOC),
is an event, occurrence, episode, disturbance, or conflict and can
include situations that threaten the orderly operations of a facility,
field office, or other DOC location. Types of incidents can vary
from a news media contact, to an inmate disturbance. Incidents are
reported in the Offender Based Tracking System (OBTS) using
the Tele-Incident Report (TIR). The following data shows inmate
incidents reported in years 2002, 2003 and 2004 using tables and
charts. All incidents are offender based, involving one or more
inmates. Incidents were categorized into five different categories:
‘Inmate assault on inmates,’
RATE OF INCIDENTS PER 1000 ‘Medical,’ ‘Disturbances,’ ‘Inmate
INMATES FOR CALENDAR
YEARS 2002, 2003, AND 2004 assaults on staff,’ and ‘Other.’
Years - 2004 had a lower rate
196.3
194.5
than
both 2003 and 2002; however,
188.8
there is very little change from year
to year.
Categories - Each category is
mutually exclusive, meaning an
incident can fall into only one
category. Medical, Disturbances,
and Inmate assaults on Inmates
are the most frequently reported
incidents. Medical incidents
2002
2003
2004
have increased over the past three
years. For the most part, all other
categories are consistent and stable.
1031
849

TYPE OF INCIDENT REPORTED FOR
CALENDAR YEARS 2002, 2003, AND 2004

904
811

876

812

2002
2003

840 806
798

2004

307 336 298

FOR YOUR INFORMATION..
PUBLICATION OF THE MONTH

Read about incidents in the community in an article titled
Incident-Based Statistics, located at the Bureau of Justice
Statistics at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ibrs.htm.
WEB SITE OF THE MONTH
Bureau of Justice Statistics homepage at http://www.ojp.
usdoj.gov/bjs/welcome.html.
DEFINITION OF THE MONTH
Incident: An event, occurrence, episode, disturbance, or
conflict and can include situations that threaten the orderly
operations of a facility, field office, or other DOC location.
DOC MONTHLY STATISTICS AS OF SEPTEMBER 30, 2005
CONFINEMENT POPULATION ...............................17,788
Total Confinement ...........................................................15,618
Work Release .......................................................................673
In State Rented Beds ............................................................728
Out of State Rented Beds .....................................................769
COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS POPULATION
ACTIVE SUPERVISION ...............................................26,049
RMA ..................................................................... 7,749
RMB ..................................................................... 6,580
RMC ..................................................................... 1,979
RMD ..................................................................... 8,366
Unclassified .......................................................... 1,375
MONETARY..........................................................................92
INACTIVE STATUS ......................................................16,067
ESCAPES FROM SECURITY LEVELS 2-5, FOR FY06
Date
Type
Return
Cedar Creek CC 09/13/05
Work Crew
09/14/05
TO CONTACT PLANNING AND RESEARCH
Phone: (360) 753-6180
Fax: (360) 586-0613
Administrator: R. Peggy Smith Outlook: rpsmith@doc1.wa.gov
Webpages, under Budget and Research, on the DOCNET homepage

level for the three years were as follows: Level-4 1602, level-3
897, level-2 259 and level-5 232. But, as shown in the graph,
when rates per 1,000 offenders are established, level 5 has the
MEDICAL DISTURBANCE
INMATE
OTHER
INMATE
highest rate.
ASSAULTS ON
ASSAULTS ON
INMATES
STAFF
Offender Characteristic - There is no significant difference
in race or Hispanic origin of the offenders involved in incidents
Security Levels - DOC
and the overall prison population percentage.
institutions, compounds and
Calendar year 2004 is the only year the
RATE OF INCIDENTS BY SECURITY LEVEL FOR
units have their own security
percentage of females (13.5%) involved in
CALENDAR YEARS 2002, 2003, AND 2004
levels ranging from levelincidents was notably higher than the prison
647 653
2002
5, which includes Intensive
population (8.4%).
557
2003
Management Units (IMU)
There’s a large variance in reporting
2004
to level-2, which includes
totals
between institutions, compounds and
379
minimum camps. The
334 340
units. Total incidents reported range from
distribution of reported
six, by some of the camps, to 1,133, which
incidents between security
were reported by the Monroe Corrections
142
127
118
levels are consistent throughout
70 78 74
Center-Special Offenders Unit. In order for
all three years. The
the information to be more useful to the
LEVEL 5
LEVEL 4
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 2
average numbers of
Department, a micro-level analysis, possibly
2
incidents for each
at the facility level, would be pertinent.
106 105 91