KGMI's posted website report on the Jail Hearing includes a glaring error.
For the KGMI story, click here.
An excerpt...
Lisa McShane is getting more billing that the "group" (which would be the Right Size Jail coalition. Website here.)
I assert that neither Lisa McShane nor the Right Size Jail coalition disagrees with Sheriff Elfo on the matter of a 600 inmate capacity jail. The Right Size Jail coalition (including Ms. McShane) disagrees with the Draft EIS that calls for an 800+ capacity jail to be sited on a... huge tract of land (over 60 acres). Sheriff Elfo also expressed reservations about the Draft EIS and its price tag during the public meeting.
KGMI either didn't send any one to cover the event, or whoever they sent wasn't paying any attention when every member from the Right Sized Jail coalition agreed with Sheriff Elfo that a larger jail is needed. I attended the meeting, and heard every member of the Right Size Jail coalition agree with Sheriff Elfo on that very point, including Ms. McShane.
Thanks for trying KGMI.
For the KGMI story, click here.
An excerpt...
Sheriff Bill Elfo says it needs to be able to house 600 inmates when it’s finished and possibly more in the future.
Lisa McShane is with a group who believes a new jail doesn’t need be that large and shouldn’t be located north of the airport where no water, sewer or gas lines exist. [emphasis added.]
Lisa McShane is getting more billing that the "group" (which would be the Right Size Jail coalition. Website here.)
I assert that neither Lisa McShane nor the Right Size Jail coalition disagrees with Sheriff Elfo on the matter of a 600 inmate capacity jail. The Right Size Jail coalition (including Ms. McShane) disagrees with the Draft EIS that calls for an 800+ capacity jail to be sited on a... huge tract of land (over 60 acres). Sheriff Elfo also expressed reservations about the Draft EIS and its price tag during the public meeting.
KGMI either didn't send any one to cover the event, or whoever they sent wasn't paying any attention when every member from the Right Sized Jail coalition agreed with Sheriff Elfo that a larger jail is needed. I attended the meeting, and heard every member of the Right Size Jail coalition agree with Sheriff Elfo on that very point, including Ms. McShane.
Thanks for trying KGMI.
I think KGMI got my position right but I do want to expand on that: I think 600 is still high. I don't know where that number originally came from. It popped out around 2004 with no evaluation of the basics: what our lock-up rate is and what our rate of growth is.
ReplyDeleteBut if you take those 2 things, and simply multiply for our population growth, we'd need 489 beds by 2025. If you add a 10% buffer we'd need 538 beds. People should know that our incarceration rate is higher than the state average. Counties across Washington - King, Thurston, Spokane - have worked to invest in alternatives to jail to make their community safer at a lower cost. We can bring our incarceration rate down - after all, they follow the same state laws as us - and then 500 or so beds would be more than enough!
Since we have very limited resources, and since each additional jail bed will cost around $100,000 just to add, it's not a smart use of our money to build a much bigger jail than we need. We would then have spent an extra million in construction costs to either fill the cells with people who don't need to be locked up (that's expensive), or we'd have to pay to maintain empty wings of a new jail (that's also expensive). Neither scenario makes us safer or saves money.
Additionally, just lopping 244 beds off the plan still doesn't make the plan affordable. It would still be around $120-million. We don't have that either. We want a new jail and we need the county to:
1: figure out how much we can afford, and then
2: plan a jail we can afford and build that.
That means making sensible priorities.
Thanks for the opportunity to address this Shane!
Lisa