Capacity at Whatcom jail cut by more than a quarter as multi-million dollar repairs start
The capacity at the Whatcom County Jail has been cut by a little more than one-quarter due to a multimillion-dollar project to repair the facility’s doors.
The $4.2 million project, which will repair all the doors in the downtown jail at 311 Grand Ave., started Jan. 27 and is expected to take about a year, according to Wendy Jones, chief of corrections with the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office and Rusty Noble, special project manager for Whatcom County.
The money for the project was approved in late 2017 as part of more than $12 million earmarked for repairs at the facility over the next several years. The funds were approved by Whatcom County Council members after voters twice rejected a two-tenths of 1% sales tax in 2015 and 2017 to build a new facility.
Noble said the main priority and reason for replacing the doors is safety, for both the staff and inmates.
“The original doors came in the 1980s when the building was built and they’ve been opened and closed thousands of times. They’ve been beat on, kicked on and damaged. They’re at the end of their life cycle,” Noble said.
Jones said the current doors created a significant safety issue because inmates could get them to pop open if they kicked them repeatedly. She said this put other inmates and staff in danger and could create potential problems within the facility.
Cutting capacity
In order to do the repairs, inmates have to be removed from their cells and entire housing units within the jail can’t be used. About 56 beds are not available as the repairs are made, according to Jones and jail data.
The jail was originally built to hold 148 people, but with modifications the operational capacity was increased to 212. Due to the door repair project, the operational capacity of the downtown jail is now 156 people, marking a 26% decrease from its normal operating capacity.
While jail diversion programs and alternatives are being used, around 23 people on average are now being housed at the Kittitas County Corrections Center in Ellensburg, according to Jones and jail data. The Kittitas jail contract replaced the previous contract Whatcom County had with Yakima to house inmates during the repairs and when overcrowded. Yakima terminated the contract in mid-August last year.
Jones said several of the people who are being sent to Kittitas are pre-trial inmates who have been incarcerated for a lengthier period of time and it does not appear that they will post bail. The criteria to be housed at the Interim Work Center in the Irongate neighborhood has also been expanded to allow more people to move there, Jones said. There have been no issues since the criteria changed, she said.
Since the start of 2020 the jail has also been on booking restrictions, which means law enforcement officers are urged to find alternatives to booking certain people, such as those with non-violent misdemeanors or warrants, according to jail data. For all of January and 95% of February, the jail was operating at the highest booking restriction possible, the data shows.
Jones said they started tapering off the population at the beginning of the year to prepare for the door repair project so the reduction in population didn’t have to happen all at once.
Jones said in addition to affecting the capacity issues, the work is loud at times. She said the work usually starts around 6 a.m. and lasts until 2 p.m. Some things, such as commissary or going to court, are taking longer due to the need to move around the repair workers, Jones said. She said overall the biggest concern is safety for the workers, staff and inmates.
“It’s an inconvenience but it’s not terribly onerous. For us, we’re just working around extra people in the jail,” Jones said.
Underlying issues
Jones said they started with the doors project because it was easier to separate the repairs and because it was cheaper than some of the other recommendations for repairs that were made by consultants hired from an Edmonds architecture firm that assessed the facility.
Jones, along with Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo and several county council members, have said that the repairs will not fix the overall issues at the jail and that the current facility does not allow for providing the best services available today regarding specialized housing for people with mental health and substance use disorder issues. Several have also said the jail is deteriorating and is unsafe when it comes to earthquake and fire hazards.
Last August, the county council announced it was moving forward with plans to look at building a new jail facility — this time with a focus on treatment over incarceration. The council is hoping to have a ballot initiative created in time for the 2020 general election.
