Shawn Vestal: Judges push back on claims that they’re releasing people because the jail is crowded
When public officials lined up Monday to make a pitch for the $1.7 billion sales-tax increase to build a new Spokane jail and fund public-safety programs, one of their arguments was that judges are releasing defendants – including those facing “dozens” of new felony charges – because the jail is full.
Judges insist that’s not happening.
Without taking a side on Measure 1, which is on the November ballot, current and former judges in Spokane emphasized this week that they are not weighing jail capacity when determining pre-trial release conditions or sentences.
“I don’t believe it’s an accurate reflection of the facts, and it concerns me that the public will be alarmed about something that isn’t true,” said Julie McKay, the presiding judge of the Spokane County Superior Court, which handles felony criminal matters.
Retired Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno echoed that statement.
“We don’t think about the capacity of the jail when we reach a decision,” said Moreno, who added, “It concerns me that this is inaccurate information being given to the public at a press conference.”
Judges said they are bound by the Constitution, the law and state judicial rules when deciding whether and how to release criminal defendants awaiting trial. The biggest factor, they said, is the fundamental presumption of innocence.
Washington state rules governing judicial decisions in Superior Court say that anyone charged with a crime other than a capital offense “shall … be released on their own personal recognizance” pending trial unless they are a flight risk, a clear threat to commit a violent crime or likely to interfere with the administration of justice – in which case bail or other conditions may be set.
Jail capacity – or the desire to hold people who are still presumed innocent “accountable” – doesn’t play into that decision.
Similarly, when judges sentence those convicted of crimes, they follow a set of guidelines that does not include jail capacity. State law has established sentencing ranges for criminal offenses, and though there is some discretion within the ranges, judges work within those parameters.
The assertion that the crowded jail is influencing release decisions was made Monday at a news conference in which several public officials stumped for a proposal to build a new jail and fund other criminal justice programs.
Sheriff John Nowels, Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward, County Commissioner Mary Kuney and Assistant Spokane Police Chief Justin Lundgren described the jail proposal as long-overdue and said it would be a generational investment in restoring accountability and improving public safety.
“You are repeatedly seeing people being arrested in our community and booked into the Spokane County Jail with dozens of prior felony convictions and many times being charged with dozens of new felonies, only to be released back into our community on their own recognizance or with very low bond,” Nowels said.
Nowels said of the jail crowding and judges: “It’s got to be part of their decision-making matrix. It just has to be.”
Lundgren made a similar assertion.
“It’s becoming apparent that our capacity is impacting and driving those decisions in some cases, instead of public safety, in my opinion,” he said.
Former Judge James Murphy, a retired Superior Court judge who co-authored the “Blueprints for Reform” reports examining the county’s criminal justice system, emphasized that judges are bound by the law and state judicial rules that guide them in balancing the criminal accusations, the rights of the accused, their criminal history and community connections.
“I don’t think it’s the case” that judges are releasing people who would otherwise be held, he said. “I don’t have any reason to believe that’s happening.”
It is true, the judges said, that jail officials have discretion to release defendants charged only with low-level misdemeanors if there isn’t room for them. But those are not judicial decisions.
In an interview Thursday, Nowels said that very release policy – which has judicial sanction – is an example of judges considering the jail capacity. He has said that about 14% of those who are booked into jail are immediately released.
Nowels also said he understands that release is presumed for most defendants but pointed to the list of exceptions in the judicial rule, ranging from a defendant’s criminal history to being a flight risk, that judges can use to set higher bail amounts to hold repeat offenders. He also noted that the jail provides a weekly report on the jail population to the judges.
The judges said while there may be individual cases of repeat offenders with long records, it’s not accurate to say that defendants facing dozens of new felony charges – on top of dozens of former felony convictions – are routinely released without bail or on low bail because the jail is full.
Asked about that Thursday, Nowels cited an arrest last November of a suspect on two outstanding warrants who had 22 felony convictions, 31 misdemeanors, 33 failure-to-appear charges – and was given bail of $5,000. He said he sees similar examples frequently.
The officials at Monday’s press conference referred repeatedly to the current inability to jail people charged with what the mayor called “quality of life” crimes – those that many associate with homelessness, such as trespassing, car prowling, drug possession and other misdemeanors. A new jail, they said, would correct the failure to hold such defendants “accountable” and keep them detained.
Moreno said the criminal justice system isn’t dealing out accountability upon arrest – it’s still determining guilt or innocence. In almost all cases, except for capital crimes, a defendant will be released or have the chance to pay a bond or meet other conditions of release, whatever the jail roster looks like at the moment.
Three-quarters of the jail population is made up of people awaiting trial, a proportion that has stayed roughly the same for several years.
Measure 1 would impose a 0.2% sales tax increase for the next 30 years, raising $1.7 billion to build a new jail and fund other programs. The sales tax increase would amount to 20 cents for every $100 spent. Proponents say the jail facilities – the almost 40-year-old main detention center near the courthouse and Geiger Corrections Center – are decrepit and need replacement and repair.
They also said they’re too small.
The official capacity of the two facilities is 600, but the actual population has fluctuated in the range of 800 to more than 900 for several years. The total jail population was 852 on Wednesday.
Measure 1 would fund a new jail, improve the existing one and close Geiger. It would expand total jail capacity to 1,300 by 2028 and 1,531 by 2053.
Supporters of the measure emphasized that there would be funding available for more than just the jail, estimated to cost $350 million. Sixty percent of the overall funds would go to the county with the remainder going to city governments. Woodward said some of Spokane’s portion could go toward hiring more police officers.
Nowels said he believes it’s important to have addiction and mental health treatment options available – resources that are in short supply communitywide – but that such programs need to come with the prospect of potential jail time for those who won’t take advantage of them.
Critics say the proposal remains too vague and undefined for the amount of money involved; beyond the cost of the jail, it’s basically a “blank check.”
Murphy, the retired judge who co-authored the Blueprints report, is one of those who says the county has spent too little time pondering alternatives to an expensive new jail or telling voters exactly what the plan is.
“They have done no research whatsoever in justifying asking for $1.7 billion for a new jail,” he said.
Nowels and other supporters say the county is 15 years overdue on investing in a jail and other criminal-justice system improvements, and the need is too urgent to wait.
McKay’s immediate concern isn’t whether the county should build a new jail facility – it isn’t something she would take a position on as a judge. But she and the others want people to understand that when they make decisions about release conditions and sentencing, they aren’t doing so with an eye on the jail population.
“The capacity of the jail is not one of the factors we consider,” she said.