Thursday, November 13, 2008
Councilmember Burgess on new jail
Other Public Safety Considerations
The Council is also very likely to order a study of jail capacity needs in the future, including a review of the City's very successful jail diversion efforts that have led to a 40% reduction in jail bookings over the past 10 years. The Council wants to study additional alternatives to jail for low-level criminal behavior, such as minor drug offenses. I toured the region's jails this summer as part of my work on jail expansion plans and found two types of individuals incarcerated who didn't belong there - persons with mental health challenges and low-level drug offenders. Both of these groups deserve treatment services instead of jail.
Councilmember Burgess is the chair of the Public Safety, Human Services & Education Committee and may be contacted at Phone: (206) 684-8806 Fax: (206) 684-8587
Tim burgess@seattle.gov
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