Media outlets worldwide and across Washington state have reported on on the Thanksgiving weekend escape of nine inmates from the Yakima County Jail. Now, a Teamsters Local 706 spokesman says in today's news that overcrowding at the jail helped make the escapes possible. In fact, Yakima County has actually already built a new jail, but officials say it can't be used now because operating costs far exceed possible revenues.
The Yakima Herald-Republic has more in this story from August. Eyeing the supposedly lucrative jail-bed rental market, the county planned a new, three-building corrections facility (two jails and an administration building). But costs escalated to $21.6 million on the one, state-of-the-art, 288-bed building that was to be ultimately completed. Caught between increased competition from other prison bed providers, and high operating costs (read - Taj Mahal construction project and union wages), plus construction delays which harmed the county's market position, the speculative bid failed. The jail director says they're still looking to somehow attract enough bed-rental prisoners from other jurisdictions to make the jail financially feasible, but other options are to lease or sell the facility.
In this story from mid-November, The Herald-Republic reports the jail is a real Cadillac: computer-operated control systems, 53 surveillance cameras, fingerprint ID for access to certain areas, and a 13,500-square-foot kitchen able to serve 10,000 meals daily. Currently, 140 prisoners (including 105 from the mimimum security facility in Union Gap) are staying in the mothballed new Cadillac prison for a 90-day shakedown cruise, to make sure everything works as planned. At least that's smart. Any lessee or buyer would want to know.
This whole piece of the backstory does for faith in government about what Baltimore's light pole thieves have. If Yakima County had built a more frugal, but still-secure supplemental prison, it would not have been crushed under the weight of its own costs, and could have already been housing overflow prisoners from the old jail, thus relieving overcrowding there and quite likely improving security at the same time. In the meantime, keep an eye out for Gianno Alaimo and Luis Soto (the third and fourth pictures in the clickable sequence here).
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at November 28, 2005 12:37 PM | Email ThisSpeaking of getting what you pay for, CA Republican Duke Cunningham, is going to jail for bribery and using his elected position to enrich himself. And he cried too. But, I suppose you will all have an excuse or a reason for what he did.
Well, Mr. Cynical, who is the CLOWN now?
Dug
Posted by: DugoutNut on November 28, 2005 01:02 PMThey wanted to rent out the conference room for corporate retreats...
Posted by: South County on November 28, 2005 02:01 PMWhat's your point?
If he broke the law, he goes to jail.
Unlike you Dem's (Clinton) It's a private matter. Should we same the same for Duke?
On the father's rights front we've seen guys hauled in for being in debt and behind on their support (or lamer reasons) and end up being shipped off to Yakima...for no crime whatsoever.
Remember to correlate the need for bigger jails the next time there is a deadbeat dad round up. Way to get tough on breaking up families for profit DSHS!!
Posted by: Andy on November 28, 2005 03:35 PMWell let me see, cheating on your wife is both a sin and a family matter. Selling your vote in Congress is a sin, illegal and a very public matter.
Cunningham got a financial advantage to the tune of $2.5 million. Clinton took advantage of of something legal, though immoral, and did not break any law doing it.
I want my politicians honest with their vote, I don't care who they have "relations" with.
Just another example of the culture of the REPUBLICAN mindset. Everyone get what you can, when you can and never mind the rules or the law.
Next year the Congress will change, by will of the people, back to a Democratic majority. I can't wait for the Republicans to start complaining about how the President can't get anything done.
I want to address the "DSHS for profit" post but it is so absurd that there is really no need.
It is cold outside, bundle up and drive carefully!
Dug
Posted by: DugoutNut on November 28, 2005 06:38 PMFirst of all it's built on the county FAIRGROUNDS!! Just the ticket to attract more families to the county fair, Yakima Bears baseball games and Yakama Sun Kings basketball fans!
They recently openned it on a trial basis with 'low risk' cons (though the system refers to them as 'residents'!). The roof leaked through to the second floor and shut down the phone and security gate systems. What a waste of money.
I've been asking;
* Why were the 'maximum risk' cons allowed to occupy the 4th floor again after a similar jail break occured in the same fashion in 1994? Why give them immediate access to the roof?
* Why were they wearing navy blue jumpe suits? Why not orange or black and white stripes so they would stand out more?
* Why are the cells made out of cinder blocks and metal doors with a window? What ever happened to bars?
* Why were max risk cons allowed to come and go from their cells at will?
* How can 9 men all go to the same room unnoticed?
* How can you punch a hole in the ceiling, large enough for a man to climb through, with a broom handle and not make a sound?
* Why was there graffiti on the doors and walls? They should be scubbed clean everyday!
These questions are being asked by many others here as well.
We don't need more guards...we need more common sense!
Don in Yakima
Posted by: Don in Yakima on November 28, 2005 07:19 PMI asked him what he meant. He said, "that wasn't minimun security they broke out of. Minimun security is in a separate building. They broke out of the max security section. And that ain't the first time it's happened. It's sloppy over there."
Can anybody out there support this? If this is true, then I wonder just how the hell our money is being invested in Yakima.
Posted by: ERNurse on November 28, 2005 07:25 PMBy the way, are all these convicts in Yakima legal U.S. citizens? I doubt it. So it's fancy beds for jailbirds and nothing for our own (legal) senior citizens, the mentally ill and our military families. Nice balance.
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on November 28, 2005 10:15 PMNo excuses. You don't get it. We are not Democrats or liberals. We don't need excuses, just the facts.
Cunningham broke the rules, got caught and deserves what he gets. He shames himself, his family, his party, and most importantly his country.
No excuses.
You have no point.
Posted by: Amused by liberals on November 29, 2005 12:27 PMWhat Cunningham did was inexcusable however, he owned up to it and will take the punishment.
Early in the Delay trouble, it came out that he would have to resign his leadership role if indicted. Appears that the Republicans have a rule that forces those in leadership postions to resign that role if indicted.
The Democrats have no such similar rule - why not?
Posted by: SouthernRoots on November 29, 2005 12:37 PMThis Yakima Jail System has been an absolute joke for years. The current jail was a poorly constructed facilty when originally built. It's no wonder that more than 9 people broke out this time.
This new jail was the result of the Department of Corrections (DOC) convincing the County Commissioners it would be a great money maker for the County -- never mind that they were already consuming huge amounts of the budget with the existing facility.
They then floated a $30 million bond to pay for it, wasted huge amounts of money on designs and site evaluations. They spent a large sum of that money to buy property in the Lower Yakima Valley for this white elephant. They paid far in excess of the land value and then found out they would have no access to local utilities and that the land had no water rights -- so the County owns an overpriced piece of land that no one will buy.
Despite objections by other County officials and managers, the DOC and Commissioners went full speed ahead, knowing they had already lost out on "rents" from King County and others, striking a sweetheart deal with the Fair Board to locate the jail there.
In the meantime, they have used all of the bond monies and placed the County on the verge of bankrupcy.
In short, the Commissioners, their staff, and the DOC are a bunch of idiots, and we taxpayers of Yakima County are saddled with the debt. Now, they want to relocate the courts out next to the mothballed facility. No one seems to have a clue....
"Law and Justice" consumes over 70% of the County budget -- actually more, but the commissioners and their incompetent staff can't seem to make that connection. Yet, the DOC continues to ask for more money....
The whole lot needs to go to prison themselves.
By the way, the chief architect of this "money-making" concept was Ken Ray, who was hired by King County -- and fired. At least you guys took him off our hands, but his flunkys remain.
Posted by: Lightfoot on November 29, 2005 12:52 PM