King County jails to lift remaining booking restrictions for misdemeanor crimes after successful recruitment increases staffing

Summary

Following recent improvements in corrections officer staffing levels, King County jails will lift remaining misdemeanor booking restrictions for all partner law enforcement agencies on Feb. 1.

Story

Starting Feb. 1, King County’s Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention, DAJD, will remove misdemeanor booking restrictions for all partner law enforcement agencies, subject to daily caps. This follows King County’s agreement with the City of Seattle this past November to eliminate misdemeanor booking restrictions. The county improved staffing levels through focused recruitment efforts, including retention and hiring bonuses. This allowed DAJD to add 77 new corrections officers in 2023 and 102 in 2024.

New state legislation to increase training slots for corrections officers also has helped ensure that those hired could complete the academy and begin their work at King County’s facilities.

As of this week, there were 57 openings out of 503 total corrections officer positions, a vacancy reduction of nearly half compared to a year ago.

This booking policy change provides more flexibility to county partners in the criminal justice system. Last year, because of increased staffing, King County was able to permanently lift misdemeanor booking restrictions for the entire countywide transit system on May 1, for Downtown Seattle on July 24, and for the remainder of the City of Seattle on November 1.

“I want to thank our jail staff, who have worked tirelessly to safeguard the public and those in our care,” said Executive Constantine. “The dedication of our jail staff and their willingness to go above and beyond, including putting in overtime, ensured we could accommodate every request for an exception for public safety emphasis work, even amid a nationwide staffing challenge. I’m delighted we have reached this milestone and can lift all remaining misdemeanor booking restrictions.”

National staffing crisis

Staffing challenges began during the pandemic, which is when booking restrictions took effect at King County jails to lower the average daily population and help prevent the spread of COVID-19. These shortages mirrored a national trend of staffing shortages across correctional departments.

The restrictions at King County jails applied only to non-violent misdemeanors; felonies were never restricted, nor were misdemeanors that posed an imminent public safety risk, such as assaults, weapons charges, sex crimes, and alcohol-related traffic violations.

The booking restrictions were a temporary measure to ensure the health and safety of jail staff and residents in custody during the height of the COVID pandemic. However, several factors continued to impact staffing needs, including a record number of retirements and resignations – a phenomenon at corrections agencies nationwide. Other factors have included legal and regulatory requirements, among them a 2023 ACLU lawsuit to enforce minimum staffing ratios under the settlement agreement in the 1989 case Hammer v King County.

Despite these challenges, DAJD continued to make booking exceptions for arresting agencies on a case-by-case basis. Throughout the period of booking restrictions, exceptions could be granted for individuals who posed a particular danger, even if their current booking was for a minor offense. Time-limited blanket exceptions were also granted for major events and area emphasis operations, including a half-dozen in 2024 alone, which resulted in more than 200 additional bookings.