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(Image: SCORE)
The Seattle City Council’s public safety committee Wednesday advanced legislation to expand the city’s ability to jail people accused of misdemeanor crimes with a new $1 million to $3 million a year plan to send some inmates to the regional South Correctional Entity (SCORE) jail in Des Moines.
The proposal will now go to the full council for an expected final approval.
District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth opted to abstain on Wednesday’s vote saying she wanted to have more information before deciding.
District 2 rep Tammy Morales voted against the approval, citing safety concerns and cost. “If we don’t have the money to fund basic services and violence prevention programs that are actually proven to reduce crimes, we don’t have an additional $2 million per year to spend on incarcerating people in Des Moines,” Morales said in a message to supporters.
Supporters of the plan say the city needs to do more to end the cycling of offenders back onto the street.
“During my first six months on the Council, it’s been clear the status quo with our jail system is not meeting Seattle’s needs, especially when it comes to booking misdemeanors,” District 7 rep and public safety chair Bob Kettle said last month. “This has allowed the permissive environment to fester, impacted the morale of our police officers, and inhibited our ability to create a safe base for our families, businesses, and communities.”
Mayor Bruce Harrell has driven the proposal, calling for a new solution to the capacity issues that continue in the city’s deal with the King County Jail. Staffing and pandemic restrictions have limited the city’s use of the jail to only about 40% of the capacity called for in the contract.
“In 2023, Seattle’s average number of misdemeanor offenders held in jail was half of what it was in 2019, dropping from 180 to 75, reflecting a lack of available corrections officers and resulting booking restrictions,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.
The SCORE pilot program would authorize the city to use at least 20 beds at the facility, “at a cost of one and a half to three million dollars per year depending on utilization rate.”
But the plan would require additional expenses to pull off including costly pay for Seattle Police Officers assigned to transfer the inmates back and forth the 18 miles between SCORE and downtown Seattle.
The full council vote on the proposal could come next week.
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Thanks for this update. A small correction: CM Morales is not on the public safety committee and did not vote on Wednesday. She was present at the meeting and expressed her strong opposition, but won’t vote until it comes in front of the full council.
Fund the police and defund public schools!!! I am scared of Project 2025 though so don’t get me wrong I’m no conservative
An under educated populace should keep the police more than busy for maybe the next half century plus being controlled by an under educated police. Yeah, that’ll work.
Everyone at 3rd and Pike and 12th and Jackson should be thrown in jail.
It is concerning that CM Hollingsworth isn’t 100% on board. There are hundreds of repeat offenders that roam about Seattle putting everyone else at risk and destroying the city day after day. They are not held accountable no matter how many times they re-offend because there are no jail beds, no police presence, and too many progressive judges. The criminals learn that there are no consequences so they get bolder and more dangerous. It is remarkable how many people have their heads in the sand. This is a self-created crisis driven by ideology. Let’s change course and find a better balance that restores sanity and order to the city.
I donrt have a problem with wanring
More unformation. Thats prudent. Thr
Err is a lot to come nsider. Thinking is good.
Y’all think Washington is gonna flip purple?
I don’t because the national Republican leaders are bat sh*t crazy and their position on abortion is a deal breaker for a lot of people. That being said I think the pendulum is swinging slightly to the right in this state because progressives have failed to solve problems. In fact it is pretty clear that the progressive ideological response to crime, homeless encampments, and drugs has dramatically worsened these problems. Electing a moderate Republican governor would be a good kick in the pants for the leftist that have degraded Seattle and the state. It isn’t just Republicans that want to live in a civil society that isn’t centered around the needs of drug addicted vagrants attracted here by permissive policies.
Im 71. Nixonnwould now be considered luberal—that shows how much the GOP has turned far righy.
fact
What we need is Democrats who are not on the far left. By saying the state needs to elect a moderate republican you are saying we need to elect Dave Reichert. Who has proposed locking up the homeless on McNeil Island. Somehow I doubt that will solve things.
I can imagine ways a rehabilitative work camp might assist some.
Right, hard labor. Profit off slave labor. Like Planet of the Apes.
When you say “The progressives have failed to solve problems”.
Those problems they have solved? Give me an example of an issue they solved.
Nah, but I think that blue is definitely starting to differentiate itself. The political spectrum needs a few more colors… how about pink for the far, far left, blue for the moderate left, red for the moderate right and orange for the Trumpian right?
I’m in!
Couldn’t we have people other than highly trained and expensive police officers transport these misdemeanor suspects to Des Moines? Minimally trained and lower paid people should be able to manage driving a misdemeanor offender to the facility. Why can’t we think outside the box to save money, dedicate our limited police officer resources to more important tasks, and put in place policies which will improve public safety without busting the budget?
Gotwhatwewanted
Along with City Attorney Ann Davison’s just-announced “SODA” plan to exclude some criminals from certain areas (City Attorney Davison Introduces Legislation to Help Protect Public Spaces: SODA – Stay Out of Drug Area (seattle.gov)), this legislation should make a significant difference in reducing the number of vagrants and criminals on our streets.
I fully support both measures!
It’s a perfect plan for that particular issue. A smart, out of the box approach. They have seriously upped their game down there. At Cal Anderson as well. Things are a lot, I mean a lot better at Cal Anderson. 3rd and Pine is still very rough. But the cops and security is thick. It’s better. No where close to done. There’s the 10% that just stick.
The bad part?
It is being pushed elsewhere w/o solving the issues. So I am seeing pockets of people all over downtown. Places they never were before. They’ve become permanent residences. They’ve officially moved in because nobody removes them. On the street. Selling boosted stuff. Drugs everywhere etc. It’s just it’s 3-4 people everywhere instead of 10-30+ in spots. Everyone needs an address right? Gotta know where to go when you want someone or visit a friend.
“Staffing and pandemic restrictions have limited the city’s use of the jail to only about 40% of the capacity called for in the contract.”
…More humans must be jailed to meet the contract quota. This is what democracy looks like.
Um… no, the service being delivered is only 40% of what was promised.. that’s quite a bit different.
If you paid to rent 1,000 square feet, but when you arrived you found you could only use 400 square feet of it, you’d be pretty upset too..
Why don’t you go back to ranting about how children are just entitled rich persons pets.
Morales wants to focus on violence prevention. I can’t think of a better way to prevent violence than by an appropriate jail sentence following an act of violence.