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If lawmakers need more evidence that it is long past time to end debate about whether to close King County’s juvenile detention facility, a recent audit proves the point once again.
The damning report by the King County Auditor’s Office adds urgency to a motion introduced by Councilmember Reagan Dunn last month that would put his fellow representatives on record about the future of the Capitol Hill facility for youth alleged to have committed serious crimes.
Dunn’s proposal states: “It is the intent of the Metropolitan King County Council not to close the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center and keep it open and operating with secure detention services provided.”
Council members should approve the motion and focus their attention on improving current conditions in the troubled facility.
The county has made great strides in reducing the number of youth in detention from a daily population of around 200 in the late 1990s. Numbers have fluctuated over the last five and a half years. Last month, the average daily population was about 44.
In July 2020, King County Executive Dow Constantine declared his intent to close the CCFJC by 2025 out of social justice concerns. This goal has since been pushed back to 2028, at the earliest. This goal has since been pushed back to 2028, at the earliest.
Four years of talking about the unrealistic aspiration of closing secure detention has taken a toll, according to the County Auditor’s report last week: “Staff explained that the uncertainty around closure dampens morale and results in staff exploring employment opportunities with more long-term security.”
With fewer staff members, overtime costs have spiraled and services for youth in detention have diminished — especially since youth charged as adults have been housed in the CCFJC since 2017.
“When a shift is understaffed, youth may be confined to their cells, and DAJD (Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention) may shorten school periods and cancel enrichment programs. This can lead to increased stress among youth and violent incidents,” stated the auditor.
Of note, The Times editorial board reported late last year that the King County Library branch inside the detention facility had been closed since Nov. 4. At the time, a library spokesperson said the system was working with the CCFJC to “address safety concerns,” among other issues.
Unbelievably, the library branch still hasn’t reopened.
The audit recommended the county “address gaps between the programs and services that securely detained youth need and those that are being provided” and develop an appropriate staffing plan, among other recommendations.
In Constantine’s response to the auditor’s findings, Chief Operating Officer Dwight Dively wrote: “The General Fund is currently deeply constricted, thus implementation of audit recommendations requiring additional staffing or funding is subject to available resources.”
If the county is out of money and can’t manage the youth detention facility properly, it should first stop wasting public dollars on looking for alternatives and reassure staff that their services will be needed in the future.
There is simply no way the county can afford to site, build and operate new nonsecure facilities for youth. Meanwhile, young people’s suffering in the current detention center continues.
Dunn’s office told the editorial board that he is hopeful his motion would be on next month’s Law and Justice Committee agenda, and further council action will follow.
Good for Dunn for trying to bring some reality to this discussion and focus on improving current conditions in the facility. King County residents should be watching carefully how council members vote on his commonsense legislation.
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