By Erica C. Barnett
The King County Council committed yesterday to keeping the Patricia Clark Children and Family Justice Center open, in a symbolic vote that signals a retreat from previous commitments to close down the youth jail.
The resolution, originally proposed by Republican Councilmember Reagan Dunn, says, “It is the intent of the King County Council to maintain operations of the juvenile secure detention facility at the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center.”
During the summer of 2020, King County Executive Dow Constantine committed to closing down the youth jail, saying the county would move “public dollars away from systems that are rooted in oppression and into those that maintain public health and safety, and help people on a path to success.” Historically, the county has disproportionately jailed Black youth; in 2021, Constantine said closing the youth jail would affirm
King County’s commitment to becoming an anti-racist, pro-equity government.”
As part of this “Care and Closure” effort, an advisory committee recommended six actions the county could take to facilitate the closure of the youth jail, but not all had unanimous support; for instance, a proposal to create a “receiving and respite” center for young people to go immediately after they’re arrested, as an alternative to jail, proved contentious.
PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.
During yesterday’s meeting, Democratic council members emphasized that they were still committed to creating a better kind of youth detention at some point in the future.
Councilmember Girmay Zahilay called this a “yes, and” approach, through which “we can have a building with a secure perimeter, where the internal infrastructure is far more conducive to rehabilitation, mental health, education, job training and more. … This is what our amendment calls for—a commitment to transformation, while acknowledging the persistent need for a serious building that is far more oriented toward rehabilitation.”
A majority of the people who spoke about the jail supported closing it or replacing it with a less punitive facility. The jail supporters included several speakers who suggested that incarcerating young people was the only way to keep children, elderly people, and other law-abiding people safe.
“Unfortunately some kids need to go on to a juvenile detention center because the other things are not working,” said one Maple Valley resident, who said her daughter was attacked by “minorities” because she is white. “Please, keep the facility open,” she said, claiming this was the only way her family could feel safe from “being jumped” by non-white people in their community.
As of today, there are 59 young people, from 12 to 18 years old, incarcerated at the youth jail, with another 48 on electronic home detention; 61 percent of them are Black.
Bubbleator: I can only imagine the kind of “non profit” that would employ a “person” that cannot learn to write a comment without putting others down. (Except the chamber, which is what they do)
A victory for common sense, law abiding folks countywide!
Ya – sorry progressives. We tried it your way for the last 10 years, and you brought us a crime-ridden shitshow. Lock the violent kids up – and keep them locked up.
Oh yeah? What did we try? Crime-ridden, are you talking about that little blip after 2016? Well all that looks pretty good compared the, say, the ’80s when crime was a far bigger problem, and the city was firmly in control of conservatives and the so-called limousine liberals.
These days we only got whiners who get frightened when they see a beat up old car.
I’m not saying that I hope you’re the victim of an actual crime, but it might help with your lack of empathy for those who have been. Callow and ignorant is no way to go through life, scooter.
Stop whining, a police state won’t solve anyone’s problems. “Yeah, I said that.”
I work for a local non-profit that serves unhoused folks and have to call the police regularly when a small percentage of our guests (for whatever reason) assault people/destroy property/etc etc.
Having cops actually show up when they are needed isn’t a “police state”, and when they don’t show up it’s totally unfair to everyone else we serve who wind up being/feeling unsafe as a result.
Callow and ignorant is no way to go through life, scooter.
How’s that lobotomy workin’ for ya bub? Nice story you got. Care to prove? I’d be happy to but you are a known liar and a$$hat. Go choke on your police state, we don’t want it here.
Choke on your police state before it chokes you, LOL! “Yeah, I said it.”
And just one last thing: I work in nonprofit too (oh yeah, I was not suppose to work legitimately according to you, asshat) and there are a lot of different kinds of people who work at nonprofits–some even not likeable–but none are crass and dull witted as you, who is more like a Jason Rantz lobotomized type. So you working at a nonprofit, and one that that serves unhoused people, it’s not believable. Besides it’d be absolutely stupid to believe anything you claim.
Oh, and the particularly funny part about you saying that I don’t work at a nonprofit is that someone in my role is the staff member who pays you, and also that logs your resignation paperwork when you get burned out and quit because the real world doesn’t comport with your idealistic view of what should be rather than what is.
Grow up, kiddo.
PS – I’m also the staffer who writes and administers the same public grants that likely pay your salary (YAY!), along with handling the accounting for all of the individual, corporate, and foundation funds that it takes to (not-quite) fully cover the cost of paying our direct service staff.
I also repair the property damage that our guests frequently inflict on our space, and once in a while I’m brought in to be the heavy when someone is particularly belligerent to one of our service staff members and they need someone present who can help deal with a physical assault because SPD response times are slow due to limited (POLICE STATE!!!!!) staffing.
But yeah, I’m making all of that up.