WA DOC - Monroe Correctional Complex (MCC)

WA DOC - Monroe Correctional Complex (MCC) basic information to help guide you through what you can do for your inmate while they are incarcerated. The facility's direct contact number: 360-794-2600

The inmates housed at Monroe Correctional located at 16550 177th Ave SE in Monroe, WA are placed according to their custody level (determined by a number of factors including the past criminal history and the length of their sentence). There are ample educational and vocational training programs for all inmates, especially ones that show a willingness to learn new things that will prepare them for a better life when they are released. The mission is to promote and prepare the offender to leave in better shape than when they arrived, giving them the best chance to never come back and thus lower the state's recidivism rate.

MCC is a maximum, close, medium & minimum custody state prison facility complex under the direction and supervision of the Washington State Department of Corrections (WA DOC) and it is the second-largest prison in the state with an operating capacity of 2,500 adult male inmates.

Vocational classes offered at MCC include printing, information technology, and personal computer support specialist, and inmates can earn a GED while incarcerated. An independent non-profit, University Beyond Bars (UBB), offers college courses as a volunteer organization, and some people incarcerated at MCC have earned associate degrees despite the prohibition of state funding for post-secondary education.

A staff-supervised youth program is offered to high school and middle school students. It is designed to deter students from becoming involved in a criminal lifestyle by meeting selected inmates who tell them about the choices they made which led to their incarceration.

Class II and III jobs are located within MCC. Class III jobs provide essential services to the facility such as maintenance, janitorial, clerical warehouse workers, and kitchen work. Class II jobs are designed to reduce the cost of goods and services to state agencies and other tax-supported entities. These include laundry services, a print shop, a license tab shop, and the panel program. Class I industries were once housed at MCC, but were eliminated in July 2004 as a result of a Washington Supreme Court decision that held that inmates cannot be employed by private commercial enterprises.

Inmates have access to classification and mental health counselors at MCC, in addition to a wide range of paid and volunteer staff.

Washington State Reformatory Unit (WSRU) - The original prison at the site; constructed in 1910. WSR is the second oldest prison in the state, only to Washington State Penitentiary. WSR has a capacity of approximately 720 and is minimum, medium, and maximum custody inmates. There are also extended family visit trailers for family-style visits with immediate relatives, available to the entire Monroe complex. WSR also has an inpatient hospital on the 4th floor that is classified as Maximum security even though the rest of the facility is medium, which classifies WSRU as a (Maximum Security) rating for DOC’s transport rating System. The 4th-floor hospital is also used by other correctional facilities within the state. Major medical care can often be performed here along with daily dialysis, X-ray, and minor medical procedures, but serious surgical procedures are performed in community hospitals.

Special Offender Unit (SOU) - Tjis Unit houses Mentally Ill Incarcerated Individuals, and has a 400-bed capacity. Security Levels are Maximum, Close, Medium and Minimum. The SOU is unique in that it also employed Psychology Doctors to assess and treat mentally ill incarcerated individuals as part of its base operation, unlike other facilities.

Twin Rivers Unit (TRU) - TRU houses both minimum and medium security levels. The Washington State Sex Offender Treatment and Assessment Program is located at TRU, and those participating in the program are housed there.

Minimum Security Unit (MSU) - The Minimum Security Unit houses inmates with less than 4 years to serve with a capacity of 470 beds. MSU has a program housing mentally ill incarcerated inmates that allows them to transfer to a minimum from other security levels. This program is the only one in the state.

Intensive Management Unit (IMU) - IMU is specifically a Violator Unit and Intensive Management System (IMS) with a capacity of about 200, Half of that designated for probation violators. The Violator unit is not holding incarcerated individuals (prison inmates) which allows double-bunking to increase the maximum number of violators to over 150. The IMS houses incarcerated individuals that are difficult to manage or are a threat to others due to excessively violent outbursts in other facilities, and has a security level of super-maximum, no incarcerated individual is allowed to walk freely in IMS unlike in maximum custody. It requires, by state policy a minimum of 2 officers to directly control and escort 1 incarcerated individual while they are in waist chains. IMS has extremely controlled movement whereas the Violator unit is treated as Minimum to medium-security where violators can move in their respective day rooms with no officers present in the day room, IMS is one of the administrative segregations for the facility.