The Yakima Herald Republic
Related: Calif. county looks to expand jails on state’s dime
WAPATO, Wash. — This Lower Valley town is considering nearly doubling the size of its jail and renting the additional space to cities across the state, but the mayor has ordered city officials not to talk about the proposal.
The move, intended to ease a strained budget that has prompted closure of the city swimming pool and the elimination of its park and recreation programs, could be a boon to city coffers.
But Mayor Jesse Farias has ordered police Chief Richard Sanchez and jail supervisor Sgt. Bruce Benscoter not to discuss the plans.
Benscoter said he had rough sketches of possible jail plans being considered, but was told by Farias not to reveal them.
Standing in the jail’s foyer last week, he said the mayor’s order came as a surprise.
“I don’t know why he wouldn’t want people to know about the plans,” he said.
Farias says he doesn’t want any news coverage until city officials finalize a plan.
When told that the plans are a matter of public record, Farias would only say: “But that doesn’t mean we have to comment on it.”
Some communities see renting jail beds as a way to make money. But as Yakima County found out, missteps can be costly. It faced expensive setbacks, including buying land that couldn’t be built on and repeatedly missing construction deadlines on its new jail. The delays prompted a dozen King County cities that contract with Yakima County to house their inmates to file claims for damages against the county. Those claims have since been resolved.
And in Wapato, initial reports indicate there’s no consensus among public safety officials and the council regarding how to proceed.
Revenue to cover services
Earlier this year, city officials said additional revenue from an expanded jail would help cover police services in this rural town of about 4,540 residents. Like other small towns in recent years, Wapato has struggled with its budget.
Renting jail beds is nothing new to Wapato. Its existing 68-bed jail at the corner of East Third Street and Simcoe Avenue rents beds to several Yakima Valley cities, including Yakima, Zillah and Granger, as well as Lakewood, Chehalis and Centralia on the west side.
Last year, such contracts generated about $475,000.
City Councilman Frank Rodriguez hasn’t returned phone calls seeking comment since the mayor’s order last week. But earlier he said he’d submitted a proposal to the council to study the costs of converting the municipal courtroom into a 55-bed unit and moving the court into a modular building on property behind the jail. He said he would further discuss plans during Saturday morning’s City Council study session at City Hall. However, the issue is not listed on the agenda.Both the jail and courtroom are in the same century-old building as the police station. Courtroom walls easily could be reinforced without significant changes to the overall structure, and local inmates still could be walked to municipal court, he said in an earlier interview.
“It looks pretty promising at this point,” he said of the proposed plans. “We’d have to relocate the court. We may buy a triple-wide (modular building) to house the court.”
It would cost the city up to $240,000 to relocate the court into a modular building and about $120,000 to convert the existing courtroom into jail housing, Rodriguez said.
City officials are still discussing ways to fund the project, such as seeking state and federal grants, he said.
But Benscoter and Sanchez aren’t convinced that converting the existing courtroom is the way to go. Interviewed earlier this month, they said it would cost too much to extend computer cables and to relocate the court’s secure room where files are kept under lock and key.
“We did the study and found that it’s not cost-
effective at all,” Benscoter said, moments before a phone call with the mayor, who told him to stop providing any more details to a Herald-Republic reporter.
Sanchez said another proposal is to build a new regional jail to serve Wapato, as well as Toppenish and the Yakama Nation.
“Personally, I think that would benefit everyone if we had a regional (jail),” he said. “We’re still trying to figure out what we’re going to do. And again, it’s a money matter.”
Unpaid fees, fines
It’s hoped the jail revenue would be enough to make up for the jail fees and fines the city is unable to collect from local offenders, Rodriguez said.
“It isn’t to fund the city per se,” he said. “It’s to help offset the cost of unpaid fines.”
Jail officials said they collected a total of just $40 in jail fees from local inmates last year.
In all, the city has sent more than $4.2 million in unpaid fines and jail fees accumulated over the past few years to a collection agency, he said.
The increased jail revenue would help finance police and jail operations, leaving more money in the city’s general budget for parks, recreation programs and other operations.
Wapato isn’t the only city struggling with unpaid fines and fees, such as the $20 per day it charges local inmates held at its jail.
Toppenish police Sgt. Adam Diaz said his department has similar problems.
“It’s very difficult to get people to pay fines,” he said. “It’s just amazing.”
The problem is so serious statewide that lawmakers in Olympia are considering a bill prohibiting anyone with unpaid fines and jail fees from registering a car.
“When you contract with other (cities), that’s guaranteed money,” Benscoter said. “Our locals don’t pay for their jail time. They’re billed, but they don’t pay. So, the contracts are making up for unpaid bills.”
While local offenders are charged $20 a day for being in the jail, cities are charged from $40 to $50 a day to house their inmates in Wapato.
It costs the jail nearly $7 a day, not including medical costs, to house an inmate, he said.
On average, inmates from other cities account for about a third of the jail’s population, Benscoter said. Only misdemeanor offenders are kept at the jail.
Benscoter said the jail barely breaks even. It’s the rentals that keep it in the black, he said.
Becoming a business
Recently, the cities of Yakima and Lakewood, near Tacoma, agreed to rent 15 beds a day from Wapato whether they’re used or not. Previously, both cities held 10 beds at the jail.
Lakewood agreed to pay $50 a day for each bed, plus transport inmates to Wapato, while Yakima agreed to pay $40 a bed. Those two contracts alone are estimated to bring $492,750 into the city this year.
In addition to most of the cities in the Yakima Valley, Wapato also takes inmates from several cities on the state’s west side, including Battle Ground, Aberdeen, Chehalis and Centralia.
Statewide, jails are running out of room. It’s cheaper to house inmates at Wapato than the nearby Pierce County Jail, which charges $75 a day, said Lakewood Assistant City Manager Dave Bugher.
“We’re looking at ways of keeping people in jail and keeping costs down,” he said. “Housing inmates -- it’s becoming a business.”
But local inmates will still take precedence over inmates form elsewhere, Rodriguez said.
If a bed held by another city is needed for a local offender, then that city will be reimbursed its rental fee, he said.
Despite any differences in how jail expansions should go, Benscoter likes the idea of housing more inmates from elsewhere.
“You can make a lot of money in contracts if you do it right,” he said. “But you have to run it like a business.”
Copyright 2008 Yakima Herald Republic