By Erica C. Barnett
Mayor Bruce Harrell announced on Friday that the city and King County have reached a deal to “give Seattle access to 135 jail beds and lift booking restrictions for misdemeanor crimes prioritized by the City of Seattle.”
The new agreement would cost Seattle about $4 million more each year than the current jail contract, which elected officials such as City Council president Sara Nelson have called a waste of money, given that the county has placed limits on the number of beds the city can use.
The downtown jail has been understaffed since at least 2020, a situation that has required a reduction in the jail’s daily population in order to maintain safety. Currently, there are just under 900 people incarcerated at the downtown jail; allowing the city to max out its jail space would increase this population, requiring guards to oversee more people without additional staff. According to the announcement, the county has agreed to lift booking restrictions for certain misdemeanors, such as drug possession.
The county already lifted booking restrictions for misdemeanors committed in the downtown area; this change would open up jail beds for people accused of misdemeanors across the city. According to the mayor’s office, the city has been using, on average, about 75 beds, so the announcement means that about 60 more people arrested by Seattle police could end up at the jail at any given time. People accused of misdemeanors are generally released within a day or two and remain free while awaiting trial.
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It’s unclear what impact this agreement will have on the city’s tentative interlocal agreement with SCORE jail in Des Moines, which the city council approved earlier this year. As we noted in our coverage of the agreement, there are many logistical issues that would have to be worked out before the city could begin transferring people to the South King County facility, including transportation, access to public defenders, and a complex communications link between the Seattle Municipal Court and the jail, which has no affiliation with the city or King County.
Although we predicted ,after the city council vote, that agreement with SCORE may have been a bargaining chip to get the county to release more beds, Harrell spokesman Jamie Housen said the agreement with King County has no bearing on the separate agreement to rent 20 beds at SCORE. “We continue to work through logistics and operational policies with SCORE,” Housen said.
Asked for a copy of the agreement, Housen said it was not finished and would be available next week. We have reached out to Constantine’s office and will update this post when we hear back.
GOOD! It’s time for those who commit the crime to do the time. In other words, enough with the permissive BS.