Pepper Spraying Incident Prompts Policy Change at Washington Women’s Prison
by Jo Ellen Knott
The Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) overhauled oversight protocols on May 6, 2026, following a disturbing use-of-force incident at the Washington Corrections Center for Women.
According to KING-TVin Seattle, a September 2024 altercation led to a state investigation after video showed guards deploying pepper spray inches from a prone prisoner’s eyes, violating the mandatory three-foot safety distance. The encounter was recorded on video by a prison staff member.
Later, a report from the Office of Corrections Ombuds (OCO) found that guards violated state policy by failing to maintain a distance of three feet from the prisoner being pepper sprayed. In response, the DOC implemented two policy changes: all use-of-force cases at the facility must be reviewed by headquarters to bypass local leniency and guards carrying pepper spray must receive additional training. Neither of the two guards who deployed the pepper spray received formal discipline.
Just weeks before the new policies were announced at the prison, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson (D) fired the head of the OCO, Jeremiah Bourgeois, amid an investigation into alleged ethical misconduct. In a series of LinkedIn posts in late April 2026, Bourgeois claimed that his efforts to make the OCO less beholden to the DOC had “apparently displeased” Ferguson. [See: PLN, May 2026, p.11.]
Abusing prisoners through the improper use of pepper spray and other chemical agents is not unique to Washington state. Recently, California paid $1.9 million to settle two lawsuits resulting from an incident involving dozens of prisoners at the Central California Women’s Facility, the state’s largest women’s prison. In 2024, guards at the prison allegedly summoned dozens of prisoners to the cafeteria, where they proceeded to fire chemical agents at them.
Sources: KING-TV, San Francisco Chronicle
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