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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I am very pleased to share that last night, after weeks of extended discussion and debate, the King County Council approved my motion stating the intent of the Council to keep King County’s secure juvenile detention facility open and operating. This is a major victory for all who care about the safety of our communities!
  I thank my fellow councilmembers, including Councilmembers Zahilay, Balducci, and Dembowski, for taking this commonsense position on behalf of our shared public safety and acknowledging that there will always be a need for secure detention for our most violent and dangerous offenders. Now that the Council has brought clarity to our path forward, we can focus on improving operations at our juvenile justice facility and further investing in alternatives to incarceration.
Until yesterday’s vote, King County was on a pathway to closing its only youth jail and in its place opening a series of non-profit operated “community care homes” across King County that may or may not have locks on the doors. The King County Council has now made it clear that they do not support this policy, and that we are committed as a body to keeping the juvenile jail open while also working to improve our juvenile justice system and outcomes for incarcerated youth. I am proud that, with an 8-0 vote, the Council was able to work together to find unity on an issue that can be controversial.
Importantly, now that the Council is committed to keeping the juvenile jail open, we have created certainty for the jail’s future, particularly for the County employees that work there, and can begin to focus on addressing pressing problems at the facility such as staffing shortages and dampened morale.
Finally, thank you to each and every person who put their time and energy toward advocating for keeping the juvenile jail open. It's only through your efforts that we were able to pass this important legislation!
To learn more about yesterday's vote, see my interview on FOX13 here.
All my best,
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