Locking up support for a cause

EVERETT – Elvis has left the lockup.

But so have the generous supporters of the Snohomish County Center for Battered Women.

The nonprofit center held a benefit luncheon Friday in the county’s new jail to raise money for the organization. The event, called “This Jailhouse Rocks!” featured an Elvis impersonator and a brief stay in a locked cell for each of the almost 130 center supporters who attended.

Julie Busch / The Herald Elvis impersonator Shane Cobane surprises Stevi Boskovich during a Center for Battered Women benefit at the new Snohomish County Jail in Everett on Friday.

It was the first look inside the new 250,000-square-foot jail for most of those at the benefit. Construction of the $86.5 million jail started in August 2002 and wrapped up in March. Inmates will be brought in next month from the Indian Ridge Corrections Center near Arlington. The addition provides 640 inmate beds, which will reduce crowding in the old jail, officials said.

The lockup luncheon raised approximately $3,500. With Elvis (aka Shane Cobane) shadowing supporters and his “hunka hunka burnin’ love” echoing through jail modules F1 and F4, the fundraiser was largely a lighthearted event.

Supporters mugged during mug shots, then were fingerprinted as they filled out a pink disposition report.

The disposition report asked “Is this a bogus charge?” And in bold print: “You have the right to get involved. You have the right to volunteer. You have the right to make a difference.”

People peeked into the locked cells before the fundraiser began, some anxious to see what it would be like on the other side once the doors were opened and shut.

“I think it will be good to experience what our clients experience,” said Kristina Coyle, a teen advocate for Cocoon House, a shelter for homeless youths.

“Unfortunately, some of our clients end up here,” added Fred Keene, a career counselor for Job Corps, a training and education program for at-risk young adults

Karen McKeen, a women’s shelter advocate at the Center for Battered Women, gets the word from corrections officer Richard Scott that she isn’t getting into her cell fast enough during a simulated lockdown Friday at the jail.

Seeing the jail from the inside will help him educate others that it’s not a place they’ll want to visit, he added.

He did say he was impressed with how spacious the jail is, and that showers now have curtains for privacy.

Visitors didn’t have to wait long until they were sitting in the cells.

“Let’s go people, lockdown!” the voice of a beefy corrections officer boomed through the module.

“She’s eyeballing you!” called out another officer, and the offending “inmate” was quickly hustled into a cell.

Several inmates weren’t looking to get out sooner for good behavior. Some rang the call buttons, asking for a hairdresser or more toilet paper.

All were soon released for an authentic inmate lunch – a congealed blob of spaghetti with green beans on the side, served on a brown plastic tray that looked like a cooler lid.

Smiles slipped away when it came time to talk about the problem of domestic violence.

Officials from the Snohomish County Center for Battered Women say that on average an assault on a woman occurs every 7.5 seconds nationwide. And more than 1 million women every year seek medical help after being battered.

County Executive Aaron Reardon told the crowd how his family was broken by domestic violence when he was 3 years old. His father was an alcoholic, he said, and his mother would pay the price when he drank.

Reardon recalled an incident in 1972 when his father beat up his mother, locked her in a bathroom and left. When she finally broke out, she discovered he had taken the phone as well.

She went to the neighbors to call police, covered in blood from a broken nose.

“They told her, ‘Why don’t you go back inside and work this out?’” he said. “And if you don’t, then I think you need to leave.”

That day finally came, Reardon said. And when it did, they feared for their lives.

He thanked the center and its supporters for their work on domestic violence issues.

“You’ve helped change the culture, you’ve helped change the law,” Reardon said. “You give women hope.”

“Domestic violence ravages our children, our families and our homes,” said Margaret Bruland, director of the Center for Battered Women.

“As the senseless abuse continues daily, it will take each of us calling out for support,” she said. “We must send a message loud and clear: Domestic violence is unacceptable in Snohomish County.”