I toured the King County Jail across the street from City Hall this afternoon with my staff. This is the jail that will stop accepting city police misdemeanor arrestees at the end of 2012, forcing cities in the county to develop an alternative jail facility.
The tour lasted about 90 minutes. Several quick observations—
The jail is a depressing place.
The mentally ill don't belong in jail. Instead, they deserve proper medical care and a safe place where they can regain control of their lives. Our state's involuntary commitment laws are out-of-date and urgently need revision.
Most non-violent offenders don't belong in jail. What a massive waste of resources; housing many non-violent offenders in jail is just stupid, to put it mildly. Seattle has actually done a lot to reduce incarceration—lowering jail bookings by nearly 40% in recent years—through GPS monitoring, community court diversions, and other means. But, the current system that jails non-violent offenders just doesn't make economic sense.
Aggressive restitution, community reconciliation and restoration are wiser options for most non-violent offenders.
The so-called "war on drugs" is a dismal failure because it scoops up users and those on the periphery instead of the traffickers and organizers of this illicit industry. We need some critical thinking on how we use our limited law enforcement resources, just doing more of the same is clearly not the answer.
One can't tour the jail and not notice the abundance of people of color in custody. I'm not one to draw sweeping conclusions about this, but it causes pause. What has happened in this country—this city—that minorities are arrested so disproportionately? There aren't easy answers, I realize, and there is a record that reaches back hundreds of years, but I came away from the tour with a lot of questions. By the way, in Seattle people of color are disproportionately more likely to be victims of crime, too. It's a complex issue for sure.