Voting on a new jail

Wed., Aug. 7, 2019

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know we will soon be voting to approve a new jail.

The Spokesman-Review’s May 19 front-page article documents “The New Jail Debate.”

Sheriff Knezovich argues we need a bigger jail — more than triple the current size.

County Commissioner Al French insists he’s not sure we need a bigger jail but we do need a new one.

Breean Beggs likes the idea of an entirely new kind of facility that centralizes services.

Tom Krzyminski, chief public defender, says we need a system that better addresses the range of problems among the jail population.

We are a long way from voting on the issue, but one thing for sure is my vote counts just as much as any one of the quartet mentioned above. And, let’s hope the next proposed jail is designed to last longer than the last two jails in succession have lasted.

Gordon Spunich

Spokane Valley

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