Spokane7
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May 28, 2010 in City
County jail announces 10 more layoffs
Spokane County officials say they will lay off an additional 10 jail employees to offset budget shortfalls they attribute to a drop in the number of inmates.
The 57 employees already facing layoffs were notified May 18 and will lose their jobs June 16.
The 10 additional employees - eight at Geiger Corrections Center and two at the Spokane County Jail - were notified today and will be out of work July 16.
“This is an incredibly hard thing to have to do, and it isn’t pretty,” Capt John McGrath said in a memo to Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich and corrections staff, according to a news release. “It’s as low as we can get and still operate the two sites safely.”
McGrath said he will review the budget and jail population monthly to see if other cuts are necessary.
The 57 layoffs include 30 corrections deputies at the Geiger Corrections Center – more than 40 percent of the deputies at the center. At the jail, 16 of 140 deputies will now lose their jobs.
Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich has said his jail budget would have been $8 million in the hole by the end of year if county commissioners hadn’t approved the cuts.
The budget was based on the assumption that cities and the county general fund would pay about $120 a day to lock up an average of 930 inmates a day this year. But the actual average so far has been 768.
County officials couldn’t fully account for the reduction.
Knezovich said arrests are up 1 percent this year, but Prosecutor Steve Tucker said felony cases submitted by police and sheriff’s deputies are down 18 percent.
Knezovich attributed much of the reduced jail population to a program designed to speed up criminal cases. In that sense, he said, county officials were victims of their own success.
However, the “early case management” program faltered when budget cuts caused the prosecutor’s office to revert to its longtime practice of failing to charge many suspects within 72 hours.
Also, a companion community corrections program was scrapped because of budget cuts.
Spokane County will lay off 57 jail employees next month to offset a big drop in the number of inmates.
The employees were notified Tuesday evening, and formal layoff notices were to be distributed today.
1992 murder trial begins against sex offender 
kennyhuston on May 28 at 11:15 a.m.
One has to ask themselves in the midst of these layoffs, “Exactly WHY do we need a new jail?”.
west on May 28 at 12:01 p.m.
We need a new jail so Ozzie’s employees have a brand new smelling building and then they come to work…just more feel good warm and fuzzy working conditions. Everyone likes a new workplace..feels good! lol
deacon46 on May 28 at 12:11 p.m.
A new Jail ? Also sounds like some feather bedding was going on. Maybe the boss needs to be next on the layoff list.
spokanada on May 28 at 12:45 p.m.
I believe the lease is up in a few years at the current location. I remember that in one article it said that the lease “might” not be renewed although no definitive information has been made available.
Albert on May 28 at 1:51 p.m.
West & William, might I respectfully point out that the Sheriff could well have given us taxpayers yet another bill to pay by allowing the departmental deficit to mushroom? I already pay too many taxes, am sick of unionism, and the ever-growing demands by the “public servants?” in uniform. Here is where the proverbial “buck stops here” decision that is guaranteed to be very unpopular with the unions. I’m not pro law enforcement by any means, however this ongoing ability to make difficult decisions by Ozzie has earn my interest and respect. I plan to support him in his re-election and this is a major decision for me…I despise politics. This is an economic, well grounded, unpopular, but much needed action by the Sheriff. Just a thought.
MrNatural on May 28 at 2:16 p.m.
Well…first I’m sorry to those people and families who lost their jobs and heaven forbid I agree with you Albert.
In this case the criminal justice system has blossomed like the military industrial complex. Private contractors as well as “government” employees have fed at the tax dollar trough in this state. We need to regain some perspective on the laws that mandate and feed this mutating system.
Remember it’s the private lobbyists who help create this monster to benefit from our tax dollars not just the unions who want the premium for the employees…
Scoutster on May 28 at 2:26 p.m.
No more jails.
zelda on May 28 at 2:53 p.m.
And let’s not forgot all the for-profit universities advertising “criminal justice” degrees so they can rake in federal student loan dollars charging three to five times as much as a community college program. We don’t have a criminal justice system so much as a criminal justice industry.
It would be nice if Spokane could use this recession as an opportunity to develop something beyond a prison- and casino-based economy.
Dazzeetrader11 on May 28 at 3:17 p.m.
The budgets and plans for the new jail were completed roughly tree years ago. Much was based on projections of more crime and more criminals being generated. Crime hasn’t gone down. Incarceration for some of those crimes has.They way the criminals are managed has changed to lessen the requirements for bigger confinement spaces.
Thus, the budgets, etc will change quite a bit and will be reduced by 10’s of millions. WIth those newer approaches, it’s hoped that recidivism will be reduced as well. Innovative changes. Ozzie and the Commissioners should be praised for their work with this problem.
zelda on May 28 at 4:16 p.m.
Daisy — From your message I take it that this is more a matter of cost-shifting than cost-saving insofar as the overall budget is concerned. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like instead of guards we have social workers and counselors dealing with offenders. They may be paid less than guards; I don’t know. But I can see your point given that incarceration (housing, meals, medical care, etc.) is more expensive than treatment and counseling and locking low-risk offenders makes them more likely to take up a life of crime once they’re released.
The public is more easily satisfied by punishment than rehabilitation statistics. It’s a difficult argument to win but I see your point.
Dazzeetrader11 on May 28 at 10:11 p.m.
Primarily I was thinking about reduction in cost of a new jail. $266 million could easily shrink to $100 million if it’s to proceed. I don’t know the data on social workers vs guards or prison workers. What you say makes sense to me though. When I’m back in Spokane, I’ll see what the story is…
Ozzie’s got a huge budget for that jail. Prevailing wage from L and I plus union costs makes those projects impossible in terms of cost. Reduce the scope of the project and you reduce the cost of workers and construction. We’ll see…if they let me see. Good post Zelda.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on May 29 at 8:35 a.m.
Money for services and education up front for distressed families is expensive.. sure is… but it is a lot less expensive than the destroyed lives that continue through our communities like mini train wrecks most of their lives… it is like the old STP commercial for changing your oil in your car… “You can pay me now… or you can pay me more later”… we fed 24,000 meals in this past school year cycle at Shalom on a 50,000 dollar budget…. one program director half time at 13 dollars an hour and all the rest done on the backs of 200 volunteers…. john