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Washington DOC Has Sole Authority over Prisoner Placement

The State of Washington Court of Appeals held that the Department of Corrections (DOC) has the sole authority to determine the prison in which a prisoner will be placed.

The court’s ruling came in DOC’s appeal of restrictions on prisoner Marcus L. Jacquette’s sentence of 123 months for second-degree murder. The sentencing court ordered that the sentence “shall be served in Nevada, or state other than Washington or California, due to security risk regarding safety of [the] defendant.”

After sentencing, the county jail sent Jacquette directly to the Nevada DOC, but he was returned to the Washington DOC on May 15, 2008, and appealed the trial court’s sentencing restriction.

Finding that RCW 72.02.240 rests sole authority in prison officials to determine the prison a prisoner will serve the sentence within, the appeals court remanded for resentencing. This is an unpublished opinion. See: In re Postsentence Review of Jacquette, Washington State Appeals Court, Division three, No. 27325-3-III.

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Related legal case

In re Postsentence Review of Jacquette