The costly, controversial journey of Lynnwood’s newest jail

EVERETT — After years of planning and a series of unexpected challenges, Lynnwood’s new jail has been up and running for one year.

In the past year, the jail has seen cost overruns and roadblocks, but city staff say it has also reduced recidivism and expanded the medical services available to inmates.

The misdemeanor jail is part of a larger complex, the Community Justice Center, which includes new spaces for the police department and municipal court.

The new facility features 36 more beds and stronger medical and social services, Lynnwood Police Chief Cole Langdon said in an interview Monday.

“Our old facility just didn’t lend itself to the efficiencies that are here,” he said.

In July, Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell said in a memo the city faces “numerous budgetary pressures outside (its) direct control.” One of these pressures, she said, is “unexpected costs” from efforts to fully operate the new jail.

“Every time we turned around, there was another unanticipated cost,” finance director Michelle Meyer said at an Aug. 13 City Council meeting.

The city currently faces a $10.7 million budget shortfall that mainly stems from lower-than-expected revenues from sales tax, development and red-light cameras, Frizzell said in the memo.

Although many of the jail’s operating costs were unexpected, most were included in the 2025-26 budget and are not actively contributing to the shortfall, Langdon said.

The city started running into challenges in 2021, before the council had approved a construction contract.

Shaped by protest

In July 2021, 47-year-old Tirhas Tesfatsion died by suicide while in custody at Lynnwood’s former jail. She had been arrested for investigation of a DUI.

An independent investigation by the Kirkland Police Department found custody officers left Tesfatsion alone for nearly three hours before they found her unresponsive. Lynnwood police policy required safety checks on inmates at least once every hour, according to the investigation report.

Just weeks later, members of Tesfatsion’s family and other community members attended a City Council meeting, where the council was set to vote on millions in funding for the new jail. Two weeks in a row, the council postponed the vote after public comment sessions that lasted more than two hours.

“You couldn’t even protect one person, and that is the reason why you guys don’t deserve to open a new jail,” Tesfatsion’s sister said at one meeting. “First, you need to make sure you keep your eye on the ones you have now and it’s not fair. People’s lives matter.”

As an attempt to address the public’s concerns, the council decided to add a mental health wing to the construction plan. While community members still urged the council not to continue with the project, the council approved the new plan.

The change reduced the new jail’s size from 120 beds to 84, lowering the estimated annual revenue from $1.8 million to $1.1 million, Meyer told the council in September 2021.

The mental health wing is now called the Crisis Care Center, an alternative to an emergency room or jail for someone who is experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis. The city completed construction last spring, but the center still sits vacant due to statewide funding challenges. The Crisis Care Center is entirely grant funded, Meyer said.

Construction for the jail began October 2021. The jail opened for operations Aug. 20, 2024.

In July 2023, Tesfatsion’s family sued the city, alleging the actions of jail staff led to her suicide. In September 2023, the city settled for $1.7 million.

A priority for the new jail, Langdon said, is improving medical services for inmates. The city originally planned on partnering with Community Health Center of Snohomish County for medical services. The partnership would have been a “nominal cost,” Langdon said.

“The whole idea was having a community-based provider that could connect these people with the services they need, connect them with the medical care they need and then continue that care after they walked out of the building,” he said.

But in October 2023, Community Health Center withdrew from the project, citing increased liability costs related to the settlement with Tesfatsion’s family, Langdon said at a November 2023 council meeting.

The city was unable to find another local provider. Now, the city contracts with Wellpath, a national medical provider for correctional facilities. The new contract costs about $1.7 million per year.

“It was a cost overrun,” Langdon said. “But in terms of where the budget’s at right now, we explained all of that during the budget process.”

‘A city’s dream’

The 2025-26 budget also includes a $5.7 million transfer from the city’s general fund to the debt service fund for outstanding bonds for the Community Justice Center. The bonds cover higher-than-expected construction costs, Meyer said in a July interview, from bids coming in high and construction delays.

At the end of 2024, the City Council approved a 52% increase to the city’s property taxes. Part of that revenue funds positions at the jail, including four custody officers, four master custody officers and 1.5 custodial positions.

At the beginning of the year, the department was authorized to hire up to 28 people, which was “largely aspirational,” Langdon said.

“The hiring landscape for custody officers, for corrections officers, is extremely challenging, the same way it’s challenging for police,” he said Monday.

Currently, the department has filled 21 positions for the jail and is actively recruiting. While the department has been spending more for overtime, it’s also seen savings from the vacant positions, Langdon said.

Still, staffing is high enough for the city to start entering into contracts with other cities to take in inmates, allowing Lynnwood to start collecting revenue. So far, the city has entered contracts with Everett, Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace and Lake Forest Park. Each went into effect Aug. 1.

“We’re at a spot where real cost recovery starts to happen for this facility in August,” Langdon said at a July presentation to the council.

On July 14, the City Council approved using $348,000 of opioid settlement funds for a medication-assisted treatment program in the jail, which helps people with opioid use disorder through behavioral therapy and medications, such as methadone. Before the program, staff were only allowed to treat people who were already undergoing treatment.

“This is really big,” said Courtney Redburn, the jail’s health services administrator, in the July presentation to the council. “We’ll be able to capture more people and really get them connected.”

The city also allotted $400,000 of opioid settlement funding in its 2025-26 budget to help offset medical costs.

Lynnwood is one of the first participants of a federal waiver program, Section 1115, that allows the city to charge Medicaid for certain medical services in the jail. The department expects to launch the program in November, Langdon said. Federal cuts to Medicaid will not affect this installment of funding, which lasts through 2028, he said.

Based on data from other jurisdictions, Langdon said the program could offset 50% to 60% of medical costs, but it’s too early for an exact number.

“That’s a considerable amount of money that’s coming back to the community of Lynnwood,” Langdon said.

The average stay for someone at the jail is 6.8 days, according to the presentation. About 35% of people who engaged with the medication-assisted treatment program were later rearrested, compared to 45% of people who did not engage with the program.

“When people were questioning the need for a new CJC, this was exactly the kind of thing we were hoping to see for the community: increased safety, increased services, making a difference, working to break the cycle for people,” council member David Parshall said in July.

Jail staff have partnered with community organizations to provide continued care after people leave the jail.

“It’s a city’s dream,” Langdon said Monday. “We want this to be a place where people are treated right, and there’s at least hope for connection and a better path forward.”

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.