Downtown Whatcom jail elevators working intermittently; officials say replacement needed
The main elevators that service the three floors of the downtown Whatcom County Jail are working intermittently after they broke down recently, but the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office says this is only a temporary solution.
The two main elevators had been operating sporadically for the past three months but on Jan. 28, one elevator stopped working completely, according to a previous report by the sheriff’s office. The elevator failure affected safety operations and required some incarcerated people be moved to the Work Center on Division Street.
All visitation, except for caregivers, nursing and other human services visitation, at the downtown jail has been suspended out of caution.
Shortly before noon on Thursday, Feb. 3, the population at the downtown jail was 133 people, according to Chief of Corrections Wendy Jones. The jail, which opened in 1984, can house around 212 people.
Temporary fix
On Tuesday, Feb. 1, Whatcom County Facilities Management brought in a more experienced regional technician who was able to get both elevators temporarily running again, according to a news release Thursday from the sheriff’s office. By late afternoon Tuesday, one of the elevators had stopped functioning.
The technician found that electronic parts, which are critical to the operation of the elevator, had failed, the release states, and the parts are no longer available due to the age of the elevator system and because the manufacturer of the parts is no longer in business. Substitution parts also are less reliable, the release states.
As of Thursday morning, the elevators were working on an intermittent basis, but Whatcom County Facilities Management and the elevator vendor say this is only a temporary solution, according to the release.
The sheriff’s office has asked the county facilities department to partially reconfigure the facility to allow the visitor elevator to be used as a “necessary and likely backup for the secure area of the jail,” the release states.
The sheriff’s office also recommended the facilities department present a plan as quickly as possible to replace the elevator system to the Whatcom County Executive and County Council.
“I am very grateful for our deputies and staff who continue to labor in a very challenging and less than safe environment,” Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo said in a prepared statement. “They continue to do their best to get the job done, despite the obstacles presented by constantly failing systems and infrastructure.”
In a 2016 assessment done by the Edmonds-based company design2LAST, consultants found that the original elevators “have reached the end of their useful life and problems are being reported,” according to the assessment.
The consultants wrote that the elevators were within five years of reaching their useful life and that problems were “likely to continue and become increasingly more major and more costly,” the assessment states.
The replacement cost of the elevators, which the consultants had suggested be part of the 2020 budget, was estimated to be $985,739, the document shows.
Visitation services
With visitation indefinitely suspended at the downtown jail, the sheriff’s office and Securus Technologies, the sheriff’s office’s vendor for jail visitation services, will provide a limited number of no-charge video visitation vouchers that will be provided to people incarcerated in the jail, the Thursday news release states.
Securus Technologies provides options for friends and family to connect with an incarcerated person by phone call or video chat.
A call costs $0.16 per minute, or $0.60 per minute if the call is international, sheriff’s office spokesperson Deb Slater previously told The Bellingham Herald.
For video chats, a deposit of $3 is required per automated transaction, but the fee increases to $5.95 for a manual transaction, Slater said.
For a 30-minute, friends and family remote visit, the cost is $5.
When a person is booked into the jail, an inmate trust fund account is established for them, Slater said. The person can use whatever funds are on them at the time to put into their account and friends and family can also add to the account. The funds can be used for the commissary or any visitation or phone charges, Slater said.
The Herald has asked the sheriff’s office for more information regarding the cost of a replacement, details on the visitor elevator and reconfiguration of the facility and how many people have been moved to the work center.
Failed ballot measures
The failures at the downtown jail come at a time when Whatcom County officials are starting work on a needs assessment to ultimately prepare to ask voters for a third time to approve construction of a new jail.
The Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the Public Health, Safety and Justice Initiative held its first meeting of 2022 on Jan. 20.
During the meeting, members discussed moving forward with a needs assessment that looks at the current Whatcom County criminal justice system, including the downtown jail and Work Center, as well as behavioral health and addiction programs available in the community.
The group’s next meeting is expected to be sometime in April.
Voters rejected ballot measures in 2015 and 2017 that would have added two-tenths of one percent to the county sales tax for funds that would replace the downtown jail.
In August 2019, Whatcom officials were hoping to have a jail ballot measure in time for the 2020 general election, but those plans were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the pandemic, a $4.2 million project, which repaired all the doors in the downtown jail, took place. Structural damage to a dormitory was also repaired, according to previous reporting in The Herald.
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 10:56 AM.
