Downtown Everett not the logical site

I think a mistake is being made. It is a simple mistake. A common mistake today. That mistake is the location for a new Snohomish County jail.

Locating the jail facility in downtown Everett seems logical. However the property values in the city are prohibitive. A second facility located in an out of the way location far from heavily populated areas seems to me a better idea. This would allow an even larger facility at the same cost as the currently proposed costs. This facility would be for those who were serving their sentences, not for those whose trials had begun or were only in for a short time. Any necessary court appearances from the new facility could be accomplished over closed circuit television. This is already being done so there would be no real effect on the court system.

Let’s do this new jail intelligently. We need a new jail, so let’s find the least costly solution for the problem, not the most expensive. Snohomish County is reasonably large, much larger than Everett. It is past time to locate countywide facilities in other locations. This is not the 18th, 19th or 20th century. It is the 21st century and communications are faster and easier.

Snohomish