By Andrew Engelson

In March, a 21-year-old woman, Makena Buckland, died while in custody of the South Correctional Entity (SCORE), a jail in Des Moines owned and operated by six cities in South King County. This marks the fifth death in custody at the jail in a span of a little over a year—a high number for a jail that houses between 600 and 850 inmates per year.

According to Bellevue Police Department spokesman Seth Tyler, Buckland turned herself in to the jail on February 29 on a warrant issued by BPD. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office says Buckland died in custody on March 4, and that cause of death is still under investigation.

The death was first reported on in an article in March by Sound Publishing, which operates community newspapers in South King County. SCORE did not post a notice of the death on its website, and has also removed previous press releases about the prior four deaths from its website.

Last year, a woman died of malnutrition at SCORE – raising questions about medical care at the jail, which is provided by a national company thatw was the subject of Congressional hearings in December and which been accused of widespread incidents of negligence, insufficient staffing, and substandard care. King County ended a short-lived agreement to house inmates at SCORE last year.

SCORE director Devon Schrum declined to comment on Buckland’s death, saying, “The process of investigating an unexpected fatality and preparing a report of that investigation is governed by state statute and I cannot provide further comment.”

SCORE has still not filed reports on two of the four deaths last year with the Washington State Department of Health, even though all jails in the state are required to file these reports within 120 days of an incident.

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City attorney Ann Davison and Mayor Bruce Harrell are reportedly considering a contract with either SCORE or the Issaquah jail for booking low-level offenses, such as violations of a recently passed law making public drug use or possession a misdemeanor. The King County Correctional Center in downtown Seattle, in a policy that began during the pandemic and continues, is not booking people for misdemeanors, except for assaults, violations of protection orders, DUIs, and sex crimes.

In a statement, Davison told PubliCola she wants to explore options for jailing people accused of less serious misdemeanors because King County’s booking restrictions “are having a significant impact on public safety and the operation of the criminal justice system at the Seattle Municipal Court. Residents and business owners are rightfully fed up with seeing no accountability for the same people committing the same crimes day after day. It is time for the City to explore all options to restore jail capacity for misdemeanor crime.”

Harrell spokesman Jamie Housen said the mayor is “continuing to explore strategies that enhance safety” downtown, and that “contracting with new jails is not a required component of these approaches.”

At least two people died while in custody at the Issaquah jail, a 72-bed facility, last year. According to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, Kevin Wiley, a 43-year-old man, and 48-year-old David McGrath both died of acute fentanyl intoxication.

Seattle City Councilmember Bob Kettle, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee, did not comment specifically on proposals to book misdemeanors at SCORE or the Issaquah jail, but said his committee would ask questions about any contract between the city and other jails. “I’m more than happy to ask those questions because it’s about good governance. It’s about doing the due diligence,” he said. “Those questions should not be just limited to SCORE. We also need to consider: What is the state of the King County Jail?”

SCORE has made something of a cottage industry out of serving as a holding place for people charged with misdemeanors across the Puget Sound area. Though it was created to serve the cities of Auburn, Burien, Des Moines, Renton, SeaTac, and Tukwila it has also signed interlocal agreements with 41 other municipalities across the region, some as far away as Bellingham and San Juan County.

According to San Juan County Sheriff Eric Peter, his county sends all of its misdemeanor bookings to SCORE, a four-hour drive and ferry ride away. Peter said the sheriff’s office on San Juan Island only has two small holding cells and doesn’t have staff to hold inmates for more than three days. He said a corrections officer shuttles those in custody between the islands and South King County

“This agreement was put in place before I took over,” said Peter, who was elected in 2022. “We haven’t had any complaints about it,” he said of the arrangement.

SEIU 925, the union that represents public defenders, earlier this month wrote a letter to the mayor’s office and city council outlining its concerns with a potential contract between Seattle and SCORE, concluding, “Our union strongly urges against the City of Seattle contracting with SCORE.” The letter listed numerous problems their attorneys have encountered at the jail including only one small room for lawyers to meet with clients; spotty wifi and lack of cellphone service; access only granted to those with a state bar card, not support staff; and poor transportation services to court appearances, which “has led to missed hearings and instances where defendants did not have suitable interpretation.

“These are only some of the examples in our ongoing labor complaints against King County due to working conditions at SCORE,” the letter said. “Not only do these barriers interfere with the constitutionally protected right to an attorney, they delay moving defendants through the criminal legal system in a timely way, leading to overcrowding and wait lists.”