Alaska Department of Corrections officials say Senate Bill 91 mandates expanded supervision of parolees who would otherwise be incarcerated. Rumors that a downtown Douglas office building could be the future processing facility has a neighborhood association alarmed and a state lawmaker demanding answers.
The Alaska Department of Corrections administrative presence in the capital city has long been in a Third Street office building in central Douglas. Recent building activity including the installation of what appeared to be reinforced glass caught the attention of nearby residents, many of whom have been calling their legislators.
“The public should know what the heck is going on,” Sen. Dennis Egan (D-Juneau) said. His office has been trying to get answers from the Commissioner of Correction’s office. “Now we’re hearing all these rumors. Some of these communications we get are totally different because — you know what happens with word-of-mouth — things change.”
The Department of Corrections is so far only saying where Juneau’s new facility won’t be.
“We are looking for suitable space but it will not be in Douglas,” Department of Corrections spokesman Corey Allen-Young said by telephone from Anchorage. He explained that Senate Bill 91 mandates closer supervision of parolees that have been diverted from prison.
The 2016 legislation was designed to reduce Alaska’s inmate population and create alternatives to prison.
“It’s a whole new section of Corrections, which means we have to set up a pre-trial in Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Mat-Su Valley, Kenai,” he said. “As part of that you have to have new offices, you have to have new UAs (for urinalysis) because pre-trial is basically something we’re working with the court system, law enforcement, attorneys.”
Sen. Egan said he and other legislators have recognized that SB 91 was rolled out faster than much of the state’s bureaucratic machinery could keep pace.
“Problem was, we implemented all of this stuff way before the departments had an opportunity to institute what we required them to do,” he said.
Plans for Juneau remain vague and there are still many decisions left to make, the Corrections spokesman said.
“There will be a pre-trial in Juneau because we have to — a law gets passed — we have to follow the law,” Allen-Young said. “But determining where it is — it’s not going to be in Douglas.”
And that’s as much as the department is willing to divulge, he said, without a formal public records request. KTOO filed a freedom of information request; the agency replied Tuesday it would respond within 10 days.
The Douglas Island Neighbors Association is also seeking answers.
“There was concern that a pre-trial service in that vicinity might be too close to other uses of those surrounding properties by other residents,” said Robert Sewell, association president.
State facilities are normally exempt from local zoning. Still, community members are digging in with this issue being the sole topic on next week’s agenda.
“One of our reasons to be is to work on a plan into the future for … Douglas as a community,” he said.
The meeting of the Douglas Island Neighbors Association will be held at 6 p.m. April 4 in the Douglas branch of the public library. The Department of Corrections has been invited to attend.
