Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell

Seattle is consistently rated as one of the most desirable places to live in our country. Our city is known for its great people, entrepreneurial spirit, great neighborhoods, commitment to environmental sustainability, and our beautiful natural environment. As of mid-2008, the frequency of major crime was 11 percent lower than the previous year. Although Seattle’s population has increased by 8 percent in the last ten years, the misdemeanor jail population has decreased nearly 40 percent during the same period of time. Despite this decline, King County is requiring that Seattle and other cities discontinue their use of King County Jail for misdemeanor offenders by December 31, 2012. No extension of this lease has been offered. The County’s decision is based upon a King County Jail study which found that King County will need all of the space in its jail facilities to house their own felony offenders by 2015. During this same time, the Seattle Public schools have decided they must close several inner-city schools and consolidate several of its treasured programs. Seattle should be known for building castles for education — not jails for crime. This does not seem to be the case.

Building a jail is not an accomplishment any elected official should boast about. The City’s consultants conclude that Seattle will need 418 beds by the year 2016 and 446 beds by the year 2026. Currently, Washington state law requires mandatory jail time for certain crimes, such as DUI and domestic violence. For example, a person with a prior DUI conviction is required to spend at least 30-45 days in jail, while a person charged with domestic violence is required to be arrested and booked in jail.

The average misdemeanor offender will usually spend about 10 days in jail; some are booked and released within 48 hours, while others may spend a year in jail. Examples of misdemeanor offenses include theft, driving under the influence (DUI), assault, domestic violence, and criminal trespass.

The issue of building a new misdemeanor offender jail facility has garnered a great deal of debate and discussion ranging from where to site the jail, what type of structure is best and whether constructing a jail is even necessary. Aside from the jail issue, there are also significant concerns regarding racial and socio-economic disparity relative to how certain groups are arrested, prosecuted and sentenced in the criminal/judicial process. Currently, signatures are being gathered for Initiative 100 which would require studies and a public vote before building a jail. More specifically, if initiative 100 is enacted the City will be required to “publicly negotiate with King County to explore alternative to building a city jail, including extending the current City-County jail contract; analyze ways to decrease incarceration rates while increasing public safety; analyze whether investments in social services will lower crime and arrest rates; and develop a strategy to address racial disparity in arrest and incarceration rates.”

Currently, the discussion of where the jail should be built has been narrowed down to the following six locations:

• Downtown Seattle
• Between Queen Anne and Magnolia in Interbay
• South Seattle, near the First Avenue South Bridge
• Shoreline
• Bellevue
• Unincorporated King County

During the next several months, I will continue to meet with community members, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and those committed to public safety to explore our progress on all sentencing alternatives such as electronic home monitoring, community service, community court, probation, and work release. I will aggressively pursue the issues of racial and socio-economic disparity in the judicial process and prod an open dialogue on these issues. Specific, fact-based solutions will be reached as a result of open dialogue. While the closure of Seattle Public schools is made by a separate elected body, I believe it will be absolutely critical to our city’s success to implement a coordinated, integrated approach in order to educate our youth, keep them safe and keep them engaged. Therefore, I will continue to meet with School Board members and school administrators/teachers to coordinate our efforts and plans.

Nobody dreams of going to jail. Steel bars and bullet proof glass are not pretty and are not positive additions to the elements that make our city great. I will remain committed to work through these issues and my values of fairness, transparency, education and empowerment will guide my actions.

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