EVERETT — The Snohomish County Council on Monday approved a contract for the county jail to house inmates from Seattle. The contract includes changes recommended by Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson.
The mayor made clear last week that he was worried about the jail potentially releasing Seattle inmates in downtown Everett, compounding the city’s ongoing struggle with homelessness.
At the same time, the contract means an estimated $3 million in annual revenue for the sheriff’s office, which runs the jail. The sheriff’s office has come in nearly $2 million over budget for 2015, most of it related to corrections and labor costs, some of which were unanticipated. The County Council on Monday agreed to cover the gap from reserves within the general fund.
Under the new jail contract with Seattle, the county will host inmates serving time for misdemeanor convictions. That rules out inmates facing felony charges and those with pending court cases.
The county’s motion approved Monday says: “The sheriff’s office has taken steps to lessen the likelihood that contract inmates will end up homeless within Snohomish County.”
The sheriff agreed to “take all legal measures necessary” to return Seattle inmates to Seattle, and to meet with Everett leaders in 90 days to review how it’s going. Earlier plans called for the county to make up to five trips to Seattle each week returning released prisoners, and if that didn’t work, some inmates would be given bus vouchers.
After 90 days, the county and the city of Everett plan to prepare a formal agreement on release practices.
Stephanson attended the County Council meeting and spoke in support of that added language, some of which came from the city’s Streets Initiatives Task Force.
“We wanted something clearer,” city spokeswoman Meghan Pembroke said Monday.
Returning inmates to their city of arrest is “critically important to this community,” Stephanson said in a prepared statement.
The jail and its booking policies have been a touchy subject in Everett, where Sheriff Ty Trenary has led a number of corrections reforms in recent years after overcrowding and insufficient medical care contributed to multiple inmate deaths.
Trenary also has pushed back against the long-standing police practice of using the jail to warehouse people living with mental illness and addiction. Under the new contract, the jail will reject Seattle inmates with expensive, high-liability issues, including those having withdrawals from drugs or alcohol.
As for the sheriff’s budget, many of the costs were anticipated but not funded, spokeswoman Shari Ireton said. The biggest piece of the nearly $2 million was about half a million dollars in benefits for corrections officers and $408,000 for overtime payments ordered in a 2011 labor settlement. The settlement dealt with how shift changes were covered and compensated, Ireton said.
Most of the rest of the sum was related to overtime, labor contracts and “separation payouts” for retirements and resignations. “This is not an over-expenditure,” Ireton said Monday. “These are items we were required to pay but were not funded.”
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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