Women Prisoners To Be Transferred

Women prisoners from the overcrowded King County Jail will be transferred to an empty juvenile lockup despite opposition from Central Area residents.

County Executive Gary Locke said Friday that 120 low-security prisoners will be moved over the next six to seven months to a vacant building at the Youth Services Center, a temporary step to ease crowding at the downtown county jail until a new Regional Justice Center opens in early 1997 in Kent.

“The choice is clear: We either make more space to house truly dangerous offenders, or the (federal) court will force us to release them,” Locke said.

The county has frequently violated a court order limiting the number of prisoners in each jail dormitory unit and prohibiting the use of mattresses on the floor for inmates for more than a 72-hour period.

“I’m very upset about it,” Squire Park activist Ken Wear said in a telephone interview. “We knew our hands were tied so there was nothing we could do.”

Residents of the area told county officials at hearings last month they had shouldered enough of the region’s troubles and complained that reopening the juvenile lockup would hamper economic development.