The News Tribune gave some more information about the new jail we've been working on with five other cities. The article included the information that the proposed site is in Des Moines, South of the Federal Detention Center.

Here is the story:

Federal Way set to pay share of new regional jail

Leaders in Federal Way move ahead with a plan to help back a $94 million jail serving seven cities. It would open in 2012 and give the city 76 beds.

STEVE MAYNARD; steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com

Published: November 27th, 2008 02:49 AM | Updated: November 27th, 2008 02:49 AM
Federal Way is set to approve spending nearly $18 million for its share in building a 668-bed jail in South King County.

After more than a year of negotiations, Federal Way and six other South King County cities are expected to decide whether they will go ahead with the $94 million jail.

The planned site is in Des Moines on Port of Seattle land south of the Federal Detention Center.

Read the rest here in the News Tribune.

Our police spokeswoman told us tonight that the new jail would most closely resemble the Cowlitz County Jail, which is an efficiently designed structure that is one story, with high ceilings that accommodate two levels of cells.

I found these pictures of the construction.

I could not find any pictures of the finished inside of Colitz County, but it is probably something like this:



After discussing the issue for nearly an hour tonight, we feel our only real choice to ensure we have jail capacity is to go forward with construction. Yakima, which holds some of our inmates now, intends to increase our fees 60 percent in the next couple years. King County is going to increase our costs by 20 % next year, and evict all our inmates by 2012. There are shortages of jail bed space across our state and across the nation right now.

Our existing jail, in the parking garage of city hall, was originally designed with 50 beds (but can hold up to 100).

Our city will likely be combining efforts with other South County cities to build a new misdemeanor jail facility. This is because King County will be turning away our misdemeanor inmates starting in 2012, and we anticipate being significantly under-capacity to house them ourselves.

As a reminder are by definition those offenses with jail terms of less than one year.

The new facility would include medical and mental health capability that our existing Renton jail does no have. Also, the new facility would eliminate the costs associated with our transporting prisoners to Yakima when we need extra beds. Keeping inmates local would also help family members and attorneys have better access for visitation with these inmates, and visitation is essential in protecting their rights and in smoothing their reintroduction into the community.

Our 2009 budget includes capital funding to get started on this facility.

Here is a complete issue paper on this subject from our chief of police.
( Read more... )

We're been working on a settlement for this dispute. Yakima has made many improvements, such that we have enough confidence to return our inmates without fear for their health and safety.

I applaud the work of our police department in bringing the safety of these inmates to our attention, and following the issue through to a successful conclusion. In so doing, they have helped protect the safety of all of the inmates in theYakima County Jail.

I'm grateful to Mayor Law, and our City attorney's office for setting the stage for successful resolution of this case.

And I also thank the officials in Yakima, who took Renton's concerns seriously, and worked to aggresssively make changes. They showed strong willingness to maintain a partnership with us.

As a footnote, our city is working with several other South King County cities to site and build a joint-city misdemeanant jail facitility (to house misdemeaner offenders....average sentance of 14 days). This will probably be built in 2011, and will eliminate any need for Yakima space after that time.

Here is the story:
_______________________________________
Renton Inmates to be Returned to Yakima

Posted: Feb 12, 2008 01:51 PM PST

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Inmates from the City of Renton will soon be returned to the Yakima County Jail, but an agreement between the two sides is still on hold.

in 2006, Renton decided to stop housing inmates at the Yakima County Jail, citing safety concerns. Yakima County officials argued that Renton did not have just cause to make this decision and filed a lawsuit.

A trial was set for May 12th, but that has been postponed because both sides have reached a conditional agreement.

About 30 inmates from Renton will be returned on April 1st. The county stands to make $1.7 million from now until 2010 by housing the inmates.

If the conditional agreement is not finalized, a new trial date will be set for mid-2009.

Renton's safety concerns were alleviated after they hired private consultants to inpect the Yakima County Jail on two seperate occasions. Officials from Renton have arranged for a third inspection later this year.

Link to story in KNDO Television source here

We need to count our blessings that it was not a Renton inmate who was barbarically killed while in the custody of the Yamkima County Jail yesterday. It could have been.

There is no excuse for this kind of violence to be allowed in any jails, period. The press release below is not clear on whether this man was even convicted...it only says he was arrested for domestic violence. But even if one assumed he's guilty, then this man had a debt to pay but not with his life; and now this inmate's relatives will grieve for him the rest of their lives. Meanwhile, the rest of us need to ask ourselves how we could EVER expect someone in jail for domestic violence to become reformed in such a violent climate...95% of those incarcerated will be released at some point. It looks like Yakima was training him to get tougher, meaner, and more threatening.

Psychologists know that we can not subject inmates to extreme violence in jail, and then turn them loose in our cities and expect them to behave like model citizens. Furthermore, you can not let the jail system kill someone's brother, son, or daughter, and not expect to get resentment, lawsuits and other fallout from their law-abiding relatives on the outside.

Our Renton jailers have been concerned about conditions in Yakima for the last couple years, and we have quit sending inmates there. We are currently in a legal battle with Yakima County because they want us to send our inmates back.

I must see REAL REFORM in Yakima before I ever consider voting to put inmates back there.



( See the Yakima County Jail press release here )