Before a regional jail could be built, the law would have to be rewritten to allow counties and cities to have joint ownership of a facility.
By Joe Chapman
Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.
KENNEWICK, Wash. — A regional jail shared by seven counties could solve Franklin County’s need for a newer facility with more space, county officials say.
Franklin County has joined six others -- Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan, Kittitas, Grant and Adams -- and the city of Wenatchee in exploring the possibility of a regional jail. Supporters say such a facility could provide advantages in shared costs, but it also brings legal issues and concerns about transportation costs.
Chelan, Douglas and Wenatchee already are partners in Chelan County’s regional facility in Wenatchee. But the facility is owned and staffed entirely by Chelan County, and the three partners are interested in a new model that would allow shared ownership as they pursue a more modern facility.
Their project attracted other counties facing similar needs of replacing old facilities or expanding capacity to hold more inmates.
Franklin County’s jail opened in 1986 with beds for about 100 prisoners, but growth in the county’s overall population has increased demand for space at the jail. The county added extra beds to cells to increase capacity, but eventually found itself having to triple prisoners up, putting some on mattresses on the floor between two beds.
The county created more space by moving 30 to 40 low-risk prisoners into an annex for the jail’s work release program. Now, the main jail’s daily population averages 180 to 190. It also has an obsolete design and frequently needs repairs, jail administrators say.
Elsewhere, Okanogan County is looking for space for 32 more jail beds, Kittitas needs 126 more, and Adams needs room to house more female prisoners.
But before a regional jail could be built, the law would have to be rewritten to allow counties and cities to have joint ownership of a facility, said Ken Stanton, Douglas County commissioner. Currently, the law allows such collaboration on juvenile facilities, but not adult jails, he said.
So the partners sent a letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire asking for state money to pay for a feasibility study that would examine costs and logistics of building and operating a regional jail. Interest in the concept goes beyond the seven counties in Eastern Washington, Stanton said.
“Also there is interest statewide to see how this pencils out here, because there are others looking at the same scenario, trying to cut costs,” he said.
The partners plan to meet up in Olympia on Feb. 4 to discuss the concept further during the legislative rally organized by the Washington State Association of Counties. Franklin County Commissioner Bob Koch and County Administrator Fred Bowen plan to attend.
“A regional jail sounds like it might be a solution,” Bowen said.
But he acknowledged regardless of whether the idea pans out or not, the county still needs to address its jail needs in the short term on its own, he said.
“The way things move, if everything was done in a very perfect, smooth manner, it would be five years before we opened up that jail,” Bowen said.
Capt. Rick Long, administrator of the Franklin County jail, said he hopes decision makers consult the people who work at the jail as they move forward with the idea.
One downside he said he can imagine is the higher cost of transporting prisoners between the jail and court if they’re housed far away.
The majority of the prisoners at the Franklin County jail aren’t staying long-term, serving out sentences, he said. In 2007, the average stay of an inmate at the jail was 14 days, he said.
Stanton said transportation costs could be addressed if the counties allow video-conferencing for inmates with court dates. That’s what is being done at the Chelan County Regional Jail, and it works well, he said.
Copyright 2009 Tri-City Herald