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Editorial: County must continue with incarceration alternatives
In a remarkably short period of time, Spokane County went from planning a new jail it cannot afford to deciding to close an old one before it can be replaced. Plus, the chief proponent of a new lockup, Commissioner Mark Richard, isn’t running for re-election.
Tough decisions lie ahead for the region as it tries to figure out what to do with the inmates who will be displaced when the Geiger Correctional Center is shuttered. The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office’s recent decision to close the outdated West Plains facility was prompted by the city’s decision to send inmates to Benton County because it’s cheaper.
A critical component of the solution will be cooperation among all of the criminal justice system players. Ironically, it was a meeting of the minds that led to the precipitous decline in the county’s jail population in the first place. But the changes that occurred should be preserved and expanded upon for two reasons: They were smart, and we can’t afford other solutions.
The community could embark on a long, philosophical discussion about how tough on crime it would like to be, but if we don’t have the jail space in the first place and the prospect of voters taxing themselves for a new jail is bleak, then the exercise is merely academic. Besides, even if voters approved a new jail tomorrow, it wouldn’t be ready for four or five years.
More immediate solutions are needed. Quicker mental health interventions would be a big plus. In the meantime, accelerating what has already worked is likely, which means leaning more heavily on early caseload resolutions and alternative sentencing, such as home detention and drug rehabilitation programs. To date, the effectiveness of this criminal justice triage has been astonishing. The average daily jail population has dropped from 1,126 offenders in 2008 to 770 last year.
Lowering the population even more will be dependent upon the community’s embrace of a less punitive system, and, perhaps, the decriminalization of some offenses. If taxpayers won’t pay up, then the county can’t be expected to lock up as many people.
However, we would caution that potential remedies must be closely examined. For instance, last week the Sheriff’s Office told county commissioners that the jail population could be cut by releasing inmates who are not promptly charged. The problem with this “solution” is that it runs afoul of state law, which requires that charges be filed within 72 hours of a jail booking. The county was already flagged for this practice in 2010, when a consultant discovered that the failure to file timely charges was common, and it resulted in offenders being released back to the community without any supervision.
We’d rather county officials seek funding for more prosecutors, even if it means going to the voters, rather than formalizing such a haphazard system.
In a sense, the dilemma the community faces is the product of successes in diverting people from incarceration. With a new jail looking increasingly unlikely, we have little choice but to continue down this path.