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King County Executive Dow Constantine’s office is pursuing only three of six recommendations from an advisory council formed to examine the “future of secure juvenile detention” and what changes should be made at the relatively new youth jail facility at 12th and Alder. None of the recommendations currently being pursued by Constantine’s office, according to a final report from the advisory council, include a 2025 end of secure detention at the facility.
Black kids continue to be disproportionately detained in King County, making up about half of the population housed at the facility or on home detention.
The new youth jail opened in the winter of 2020 with 16-cell living halls designed to look like dorms but secured for incarceration with electronic locks and state of the art surveillance systems, new classrooms, and an expanded visitation areas where youth offenders can meet with family and lawyers. There is a Merit Hall where detained kids can earn TV time and officials repurposed an “interview room” as a video game room. And there are courtrooms where legal proceedings can be carried out.
“As we move toward zero youth detention, how we can repurpose space?” one official said at the time. “As our population decreases, we can move our secure perimeter.” Continue reading