Associated Press
SEATTLE — King County Executive Dow Constantine announced Tuesday afternoon he plans to convert the remaining detention units at the county’s juvenile jail to “other uses” by 2025.
He made the announcement on Twitter, citing a desire to move public funding away from “systems that are rooted in oppression,” The Seattle Times reported.
“Phasing out centralized youth detention is no longer a goal in the far distance,” Constantine wrote in a lengthy thread. “We have made extraordinary progress and we have evolved to believe that even more can be done.”
He added that his announcement comes after “the vicious, state-sponsored murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.”
King County has declared a goal of “Zero Youth Detention” for years, even as a new jail facility was built.
The recently-opened, 156-bed Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center replaced an older Youth Services Center that had 100 more beds than the new facility — “almost twice the number of detention beds needed today,” according to the county’s website.
The new facility, which also includes courtrooms and a resource center, was initially built as a “part of our larger aspirational goal of a safer, more restorative alternative for every youth,” Constantine tweeted Tuesday.
It currently houses 21 people, which is down from its March 13 population of 43 people, as officials have reduced jail populations during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a county correctional facility dashboard.
On Tuesday, Constantine also that he’ll also propose additional investments to create “community-based solutions” for youth and families in King County.
According to a statement from Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County, the organization met with Constantine’s office and public health officials Tuesday to “(outline) a path forward.”
“We want a system that supports youth and helps them lead healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives,” BLMSKC board member Livio De La Cruz said in the statement. “Their lives matter. Ending youth incarceration is the right thing to do for our children, their families, and all of us.”
“The path to Zero Youth Detention gets steeper and steeper from here, and only an all-out, concerted effort from government and community partners will get us to that summit,” Constantine wrote. “Community has continuously called on us to do more and to go further, and with their help, we will answer that call.”
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