Talk has arisen again about building a new Spokane County jail. A few weeks ago, Commissioner Al French told us he’s working with the city and other community leaders to craft a ballot measure for funding a new facility.
The jail would be one part of the strategy for reforming the county’s criminal justice system. The Regional Law and Justice Council has been working on and monitoring new ideas and programs as a response to a report called “Blueprint for Reform.” It was issued in 2013 by a three-member regional justice commission.
Maggie Yates is the council’s administrator and she joins us to talk about progress made since 2013.
__________________________________________
A few weeks ago, we reported on a new program to Spokane, the Bail Project, in which a non-profit identifies people to bail out of jail so they can resume their lives while they wait for trial. Yates says the county has several other programs that move people in the criminal justice system into pathways that might be more helpful to them.
Maggie Yates: “We have a felony diversion program run by our county prosecutor’s office with the support of our pretrial services office. We have a mental health diversion program that is run by community services in collaboration with detention services. And then we’re also developing, or hoping to develop and expand, a profiling diversion program which will allow for individuals to divert away from the justice system before their charges are even filed. We also have therapeutic courts to help individuals access resources and stabilize in an attempt to make sure that we’re reducing those number and levels of recidivism.”