Phillips calls for contract extension to allow for joint city-county planning on jail expansion

April 27, 2009

Summary

Seattle requests ten-year contract extension in order to halt planning for its own misdemeanant jail

Story

Metropolitan King County Councilmember Larry Phillips today called for negotiation of a ten-year extension of the jail services contract with the cities of King County, in order to move forward with a regional jail services plan that enables cities to partner with the County for expansion of jail space for both felons and misdemeanants.

“It makes zero sense for the citizens of King County to build more jails than we need,” said Councilmember Phillips. “Jails are expensive to build and operate and disruptive to communities, so it makes much more sense for the County and the cities to plan for any regional jail expansion that meets our combined needs. This will save money overall for taxpayers, and allow us to site new jail space if needed near existing services rather than in inappropriate locations like the Interbay or Georgetown neighborhoods.”

In 2002 when King County was facing a severe budget crisis, the County Executive informed local cities that the County could no longer afford to house their misdemeanant offenders once the cities’ jail services contract expired in 2012. Those cities began planning in 2007 for construction of misdemeanant jail facilities separate from King County’s regional jails in downtown Seattle and Kent.

Phillips last year led efforts to extend the cities’ jail services contract, believing it to be more efficient and cost-effective to proceed with a joint planning process. He called for the Executive to negotiate a long-term contract that would continue the County’s role as the primary provider of jail and community corrections programs.

King County’s investment in prevention and treatment programs, in addition to lower-cost alternatives such as home detention and work release, contributed to a lower daily jail population in King County’s jails than had been projected in 2000. However, recent County and city studies show that the region’s combined needs for detention space will exceed capacity at the County’s jails in downtown Seattle and Kent by 2015 or 2016.

“King County’s investment in programs such as Drug Court and Mental Health Court have helped offenders get their lives on track and stay out of jail,” said Phillips. “We need to apply this model to the way we think about our long-term regional jail needs.”
Partnering with cities to consolidate future jail space needs will not eliminate the need for jail expansions, but will likely provide further opportunities to reduce costs and maximize alternatives to incarceration.

King County owns additional land adjacent to both the King County Jail in downtown Seattle and the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. Both facilities are conveniently located near courtrooms, and the King County Jail’s location near Harborview Medical Center provides some cost efficiencies in providing emergency medical services for inmates. Jail annexes near King County’s existing jails remain a feasible expansion option if a funding partnership can be secured.