The Whatcom County Jail is fuller than a fox after a run through the hen house. The facility has been overcrowded since 1987 and its problems show no signs of ending as more people are booked and their stays grow longer.

Wendy Jones, the chief corrections deputy for Whatcom County and the supervisor of the jail, said the jail was designed with 148 beds yet in 2009 had an average of 287 people cooling their heels. She said storage areas that used to house toilet paper and other supplies have been converted to house inmates. Spaces originally meant to house one inmate now have three crammed into a small space.

Serious changes need to be made to the jail in order to accommodate the increase in the inmate population. Allowing the jail to fill to overcapacity puts a strain on the security systems, the guards and the inmates themselves. It is a problem Whatcom citizens need to address by supporting both repairs and expansion of the current jail, or by approving measures to construct a new facility.

Jones said the jail’s electronic security systems have failed in the past. This has forced the jail to go back to a manual system that creates a fire hazard because the doors cannot be opened as quickly. The building’s foundation is not seismic-proof, which prevents adding one or two more stories to house more inmates. Security system repairs would cost $3.4 million while the cost of foundation repairs remains unknown, Jones said.

However, constructing a new jail would cost the county $160 million, a significantly steeper price.

The issue of jail overcrowding is not one that will go away. For the first two months of 2010, the jail's population was, on average, made-up of 59 percent felons and 41 percent misdemeanants. A large concentration of felons contributes to overcrowding because they typically serve longer sentences in the jail. Felons have more court work and their cases take longer to appear in front of a judge.  

The county's only jail continues to creep upward, Jones said. However, she said Whatcom is second only to King County in implementing alternatives to incarceration. Whatcom uses electronic home monitoring systems to keep track of low-risk criminals using ankle monitors. Work release programs allow inmates to attend their jobs during normal business hours and then return to the minimum security work center, which was founded in 2006. Offender work release programs allow inmates without a job to work for the county by restoring salmon habitats and maintaining roads.   

Whatcom voters should support an expansion of these alternatives as well as much needed repairs to the current jail. The price of a new jail is high in an economic recession, however repairs the security systems and foundations of the current jail, and increases to funding of incarceration alternatives will relieve some of the pressure.      

When the jail becomes overcrowded, the basic dignity and health of inmates is put at stake. Surely, incarcerated citizens maintain basic rights. The county must respect those rights through key jailhouse renovations.

The Editorial Board is comprised of Editor in Chief Nicholas Johnson, Managing Editor Katie Greene and Opinion Editor Tristan Hiegler.

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