SHORELINE
Space-strapped cities will be able to house inmates with misdemeanor offenses at the King County Jail through 2015 under a tentative agreement reached between staff representing the municipalities.
The agreement, which must be approved by several cities before becoming final, would extend the current contract beyond its 2012 expiration.
“This three-year extension allows us the time we need to be able to build new capacity,” said Scott MacColl, Shoreline intergovernmental relations manager. “It makes things a lot to easier to have access to that facility, that’s good to get us through the planning period.”
The agreement will head to King County’s 37 city councils for review before the end of the year.
In partnership with the county, cities in north and east King County continue to explore options for additional jail capacity as forecasts — including the most recent Seattle City Council analysis — show additional jail beds to meet the needs of both the cities and county will be required within the next decade.
Most cities also have other jail contracts outside that with the county — or operate small jail facilities themselves — and those efforts will also continue.
The existing interlocal agreement for jail services between King County, Seattle and 36 other cities expires Dec. 31, 2012. In August 2008, the county and cities reopened negotiations on the jail services agreement to discuss extending the existing agreement beyond 2012.
“Reaching agreement on extending the jail services contract was one of my top priorities this year because of its importance to the entire region,” King County Executive Kurt Triplett said in a press release. “It is critical for providing clarity and greater certainty for elected officials as they make policy and budgeting decisions, as well as for regional and local law enforcement officials, prosecutors, court officials and the entire regional criminal justice system that depends on coordinated regional jail services.”
The new agreement would:
Ÿ Provide three additional years of jail service to the cities through Dec. 31, 2015.
Ÿ Conduct periodic county review of inmate population data and forecasts, which could be used to increase the number of beds available to cities.
Ÿ Implement new rates for services based on the type of service provided to city inmates. The new rates will be instituted beginning in mid- to late 2010 and will be updated periodically over the agreement term to reflect changes in actual county costs.
Ÿ Maintain cities’ commitments to other jail-bed programs and to help plan for future jail needs.
For the agreement to take effect, cities representing at least 70 percent of the 2008 average daily jail population of all 37 cities must sign. The target is easily met if the five largest jail services users in the north and east (Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond and Shoreline) sign the agreement.
The Jail Services Agreement is scheduled to be finalized in the coming weeks. It will then be submitted to respective city and county councils for consideration.
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