The new head of Washington's Department of Corrections says Green River serial killer Gary Ridgway was moved from a Washington state prison to federal prison in Colorado because he had been deemed a security threat who might harm the staff, reports the Seattle Times. Ridgway, 66, had ample opportunity to study the cell, staff and prison routines and look for weaknesses, Secretary Dan Pacholke told the state Senate Law and Justice Committee. Pacholke's remarks contradict comments made by then-Corrections Secretary Bernie Warner, who described Ridgway as “not necessarily a threat to others.”
Warner stepped down last month to work at a private corrections company. U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert said he remained unmoved by the corrections department’s explanations. “The Department of Corrections … is not being honest with the people of the state of Washington,” Reichert, the former King County sheriff who spent years investigating the killings as a sheriff's detective, said after the committee session. “That was bullshit, what you just heard,” he said.