In recent decades, Washington has been the poster child for tough-on-crime legislation. Often spurred by crime-of-the-year legislation responding to a particularly heinous crime or a chronic problem like drunken driving, lawmakers have piled up tougher, longer sentences. The tougher-than-thou competition sometimes spilled over onto the campaign trail.

But now the soaring Department of Corrections budget has collided with the state’s $9 billion budget problem, and lawmakers find themselves considering closing McNeil Island penitentiary and Green Hill reform school, revisiting sentences and cutting back parole for some inmates. Proposed budgets cut more than $150 million from prison spending.

The Seattle Times’ Jennifer Sullivan provides an update on this situation today …and the News Tribune’s Joe Turner did a takeout over the weekend …