YAKIMA — The first sign of trouble came in a telephone call just before Christmas.
Yakima County Corrections Director Ed Campbell learned from his staff that the city of Federal Way was pulling its 30 inmates out of the Yakima County jail system.
Auburn followed in quick successi
on, withdrawing 60 prisoners.
Despite earlier assurances from his 35 King County city customers that they would renew most bed rental contracts set to expire Dec. 31, the exodus was on.
When it was over, Campbell found himself with roughly 30 contract inmates — from what had been 300 — and what could be a $7 million or deeper hole in his $32 million budget. The loss nearly equals what the county spends every year to operate the assessor, treasurer, auditor, county clerk and planning departments combined.
Campbell calls it the most difficult time he and the department have faced.
“I believe we are going to have to go through some restructuring. I’m not certain we will fill all the vacant beds,” he said.
County officials face some tough decisions about how to close the gap, which is made more difficult by an obligation to pay back the bonds sold to build the new jail near State Fair Park — the very purpose of which was to house contract inmates. The bond payments plus money Campbell must set aside for capital improvements amount to about $3 million.
By laying off 33 people, eliminating five vacant positions and renegotiating some contracts for jail services, Campbell will cover about half the losses.
What happened to Yakima County reflects a broader trend throughout the state and the nation as inmate populations drop.
Campbell and Yakima County simply got underbid in what has become an increasingly competitive marketplace as counties look to narrow gaping holes in their budgets by contracting out an increasing number of empty beds.
More than ever, money is now driving the rental business.
The trend is critical to Yakima County because it relies on bed rentals to cover its costs.
The department operates on its revenues, including $10 million from general county tax dollars to support housing county inmates.
Bed rental contracts with county cities, King County, the state and federal governments and miscellaneous revenues from telephones, inmate commissary and other sources make up its budget.
“There is a lot of pressure on the market because jurisdictions are struggling,” Campbell said. “There are fewer inmates out there and more jurisdictions selling.”
Chelan County jail chief Phil Stanley said the decline in inmate populations is a sign of the economic times as counties find cheaper alternatives to incarceration through home detention and pretrial release.
One major source of jail inmates — driving on a suspended license — has been decriminalized.
“There has been an effort to try to reduce the number of bed days in jails to save money,” said Stanley, whose county rents out about 90 beds. “The jail budgets for counties have become very expensive.”
The whole dynamic likely will change even more when a consortium of seven south King County cities opens an 800-bed jail for minor offenders in Des Moines, south of Seattle, in September.
The facility, South Correctional Entity (SCORE), will take all misdemeanor offenders from the seven cities — Auburn, Burien, Des Moines, Federal Way, Renton, SeaTac and Tukwila — at projected daily rates of $112 in 2012, according to Penny Bartley, director of the SCORE jail.
All seven cities were part of the group that signed agreements to house prisoners in Yakima County in 2002.
Other cities in the county can use the new jail, but they will be required to pay a higher rate, something over $120 per day, according to a representative of cities not among the seven.
With that new jail moving toward completion and beds opening up elsewhere, the negotiations between Yakima County and the cities became more complex and more fluid as individual cities made their own decisions about their needs and where those needs could be accommodated, city representatives said.
When the dust settled, the King County inmates were spread across the state. Many are in Snohomish County, where bed-rental rates are a third or more below what Yakima County is charging this year.
Snohomish County has signed contracts worth $1.5 million with at least seven cities in King County for a total of more than 135 beds, and more contracts are pending.
Chelan County picked up new contracts with Federal Way and Kent as of Jan. 1.
Maj. Doug Jeske with the Snohomish County sheriff’s office said he began spreading the word last summer that the county was in the market and had beds to rent. The news traveled throughout King County just as the cities were continuing to talk with Yakima County.
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