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Committee hears pilot to bring AMEND contact‑officer model to Washington State Penitentiary
Summary
Senate Bill 5,409 would create a four‑year pilot at the Washington State Penitentiary East Complex to pilot dedicated contact officer positions and AMEND practices, with annual reporting and a June 30, 2030, pilot expiration.
Senate Bill 5,409, sponsored by Senator Claire Wilson, received testimony on Feb. 4 in the Senate Human Services Committee. The bill would establish a four‑year pilot at the Washington State Penitentiary East Complex to implement a contact officer model developed in partnership with AMEND at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and known in international corrections practice for emphasizing staff mentorship, dynamic security and rehabilitative interactions.
Under the bill, the Department of Corrections (DOC) would establish a pilot at the Washington State Penitentiary East Complex, designate contact officers to mentor and coach a small number of incarcerated individuals, train correctional staff in dynamic security tactics, and initiate improvement projects. DOC would report annually to the governor and legislature on participants, improvements, behavioral patterns, differential outcomes and recidivism measures. The pilot would expire on June 30, 2030. A fiscal note indicates indeterminate costs greater than $50,000 per year and an estimate of about $1.7 million per biennium, mostly for DOC staffing.
Advocates and program partners described the model and early results: Kelsey Engstrom, senior program manager with AMEND at UCSF, said contact officers are trained mentors who develop relationships that improve facility safety, staff wellbeing and reentry outcomes; she said Washington would be the first U.S. corrections system to formally adopt dedicated contact officer positions based on the model. Courtney Grubb, Washington Way program administrator for DOC, said the department has trained more than 2,000 staff in introductory AMEND principles and is working in multiple prisons and reentry centers statewide.
Supporters argued that the model helps reduce harm, increase meaningful out‑of‑cell time, and support staff wellness. Jacob Ivan Schmidt and Raymond Williams of Justice Solutions testified in favor and described cultural changes and the historical basis for restorative practices.
Labor and staff representatives praised the goals but raised concerns. Brenda Wiest, vice president of Teamsters Local 117 (which represents about 6,000 DOC workers), said staff face “very acute needs” and questioned whether a small pilot inside a larger institution will create durable culture change; she warned the pilot could create “haves and have‑nots,” noted infrastructure and staffing concerns at the penitentiary and urged prioritizing investments in bargaining, PTSD presumptive coverage, critical incident leave and peer counseling. Teamsters asked for concrete staffing and funding commitments before broader rollout.
DOC officials, including Deputy Assistant Secretary Chuck Anderson, described the East Complex’s built environment and the department’s view that dedicated resources could transform the site’s culture and reduce negative interactions. Committee staff and sponsors asked DOC and partners to continue discussing implementation details, including staff selection, training intensity and metrics.
No final committee action was taken during the hearing. Supporters and opponents asked for additional follow‑up on funding, bargaining impacts and pilot selection criteria.
