Speaking at the State of the County event last week, county Manager Shawn Henessee mentioned the county’s blue-ribbon commission currently at work at producing a recommendation to address Clark County’s antiquated jail. The commission is in the midst of considering complex issues around the size and location of the jail, Henessee told the crowd. But he added, “that’s in many ways a simple question when you start looking at all the things this jail will impact.”
“So not only do we have to look at the jail, but we have to look at the impact countywide,” Henessee said.
Determining that impact will take a little longer. As the commission turns to questions of how replacing or remodeling the county’s only jail will affect other local governments, it has for a second time extended its time frame for delivering its recommendation.
The 24-member commission, consisting of community leaders and other stakeholders, was formed in May to develop a plan to bring the jail, which opened in 1984, up to modern standards. It was prompted by a consultant’s study that concluded that the jail would need to grow to 366,564 square feet to meet industry best practices and accommodate 1,109 to 1,260 beds by 2036. The jail now has a 793-bed capacity and 124,318 square feet of space (excluding its work center).
The commission was originally expected to complete its work in November, in time for the county to bring a bond to voters in February. But when it came time to issue a recommendation, the commission, still grappling with questions over how many inmates the future facility should accommodate, pushed its deadline to this spring.
The commission now anticipates delivering its recommendation to the Clark County Council in June or July.
Craig Pridemore, a former county commissioner and now the CEO of Columbia River Mental Health Services, serves as the commission’s chair. He said the decision to extend the time frame was made earlier this year. He said that part of the difficulty has been projecting the jail’s population decades into the future at a time when the county has been putting fewer people behind bars and embracing measures intended to further divert offenders from incarceration.
He said that if the jail is too small, the problem of overcrowding will re-emerge. But he said an oversized jail could cause the county to struggle to meet excessive operating costs. The costs of running the new facility have already caught the attention of Henessee. Speaking last week, he said that paying for the construction costs are relatively straightforward.
“It’s the personnel costs that are truly terrifying to me, at times, because those costs only continue to increase,” said Henessee.
Estimating demand
To answer its questions, the commission has turned to another consulting firm, Justice System Partners. Carol Bua, spokeswoman for the city of Vancouver, said in an email that the firm has held a contract with Vancouver for several years to review its misdemeanant population. She said that the contract was expanded at a cost of $35,000 to estimate the future population of the jail.
Speaking at the commission’s meeting in February, Marlia Jenkins, county administrative services manager, said that the firm will be looking at policy levers that could cause future jail populations to rise or fall.
The commission is also considering what to recommend regarding the county’s Jail Work Center, a minimum-security facility located on 18 acres along Northwest Lower River Road that serves as a minimum security facility. It could be expanded, but Pridemore said that much of the discussion comes down to one question: “Is this the best use of the land?”
The Jail Work Center is in the marine terminal area of the Port of Vancouver, though not on port property. In August, Julianna Marler, CEO for the Port of Vancouver, wrote to the commission stating that the center has been a good neighbor to the port over the last 18 years.
“That said, economic opportunities have been hindered or missed altogether as a result of incompatibility between the JWC and the surrounding areas,” wrote Marler. She asked the commission to consider the economic impact of expanding services near the port’s marine terminals.
During the commission’s February meeting, Clark County Director of Community Services Vanessa Gaston raised concerns that the relatively remote location of the Jail Work Center would complicate connecting inmates to services.
Speaking after the meeting, Pridemore explained that another complicating factor is the county’s plans to build a crisis triage center near the Jail Work Center. The center would serve people with serious chemical dependency and mental health issues who are not incarcerated. He said there are questions if it’s appropriate to put this population next to an expanded jail.
The commission is also considering recommending an expansion of the footprint of the current jail, located in downtown Vancouver. Doing so would require purchasing nearby land and acquiring street vacations from the city of Vancouver.
Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle, a member of the commission, told The Columbian that she questions expanding the jail in a growing downtown on property that could instead be used to create jobs and expand the tax base.
“And if we are putting in another government office in those five blocks perhaps, that’s not the best use,” she said.
