The Department of Public Defense has generated a list of offenses that it wants the King County Council to pass legislation that would halt jail bookings for the accused. That list includes stealing cars, home burglaries, failing to register as a sex offender and even those offenders who are fugitives under outstanding warrants. Public defenders and corrections officers said a recent rise in COVID-19 cases fueled by the omicron variant has resulted in staggering staffing shortages at the jail. There are now concerns that quarantines resulting from COVID have led to inhumane confinement conditions for some inmates. Will this suffice to end these arrests and make jails less inhumane?
King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said the consequences of the proposal, if implemented, will create chaos. “The problem with a blanket policy to restrict bookings is that nobody gets to look at the person and we just tell the police officers, ‘Good on you, you just caught a car thief, now you have to give them a ticket and let them go,'” he said. “And that’s very frustrating for everybody.” But, Prosecutors said this would apply to prolific offenders with even decades-long criminal histories.
According to the King County Prosecutor’s Office, there are currently 1,350 inmates in custody at the jail, down from 1,900 at the start of the pandemic. That includes:
59 percent of them accused of a violent crime
23 percent jailed for what’s considered a “serious offense”
8 percent are jailed because of their criminal history.
The 1,360 people who are currently incarcerated are almost all there waiting for trial for a very serious crime,” Satterberg said. “In my experiences most of them won’t come back and most will go do more harm.”
“The situation in the jail has grown to a level that is untenable,” said Rachel Schultz with the Department of Public Defense. “They have not been able to get clean clothes for 4 to 5 days and some have reported being unable to access shower facilities for 7-8 days at a time. These conditions are inhumane anywhere.” County Council member Girmay Zahilay said the tough task now is to weigh the balance between public safety and public health.
