Gary Ridgway, the notorious “Green River Killer,” will return to the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. The Department of Corrections (DOC) announced the decision to return Ridgway following public backlash once it was discovered that he was transported to a penitentiary in Colorado for his comfort. MyNorthwest.com,
“The decision was made after law enforcement raised concerns of Ridgway’s availability for future murder investigations. Ridgway will return from the U.S. Penitentiary in Florence, Colo.”
Apparently, this time around, Jay Inslee was consulted before the DOC called the Federal Bureau of Prisons to inform them of the change. Inslee has maintained that he did not know of the Ridgway’s transfer to Colorado in advance. Of course, that means Inslee is either not telling the truth or he is so disrespected by state officials that they do not bother to notify him of major decisions.
As Shift previously stated, Inslee set a terrible precedent for the manner in which our state treats victims when he announced in February 2014, without notice, debate or public discussion, that he would refuse to carry out the state’s death penalty laws. Inslee said that if any death penalty case arrives on his desk, he would decline to act on it.
The Ridgway transfer debacle, for the sake of his comfort and at the taxpayers’ expense, is the direct result of Inslee’s disrespect for victims.
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