With capacity set at just over 200 inmates and an actual daily average population closer to 400, Whatcom County’s jail is beyond crowded.
Since 2016, whenever the jail has reached capacity, both pre-trial inmates and those serving sentences ordered by municipal, tribal and county courts in Whatcom County have been routinely transported to jail in Yakima County, a three-and-half hour drive away from support networks of family and friends.
Approximately 60 percent of the jail population on any given day may be in pre-trial status, still awaiting initial hearings and bail-setting, or unable to afford bail. Pre-trial detainees are among those transported out of the county. And tight quarters in a crowded jail complicates screening for the large number of detainees with mental health issues.
While the issues are well known by those administering courts and managing the jail, expanding capacity is unlikely anytime soon. A proposal to raise funds to renovate, repair and expand the county’s jail facilities and to improve community-based mental health treatment, detoxification and other efforts to keep people out of jail and the criminal justice system was rejected by 59 percent of voters last November. A similar proposal was voted down in 2015.
So, what to do?
Courts across the county are implementing alternatives that keep people out of jail to help alleviate crowding, avoid cross-state travel time and cost and provide better conditions for the substantial number of people suffering from mental illness who end up in jail. One of the key alternatives is to use ankle bracelets, which allow people not deemed a safety risk to go on with their lives while meeting legal obligations. The bracelets use electronics to monitor alcohol use, geographical location and is one of several successful tactics helping to relieve the crush. And save money ....
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