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PHOTO BY CLARE JENSEN

SEEKING SOLUTIONS. Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor spoke to a group of more than 100 community members at a forum on the Pierce County jail March 20. Pastor was one of five criminal justice representatives who listened and conversed with the audience that night, and will continue looking into solutions for the jail issue through a Task Force starting at the end of this month.

Jail forum sets the tone for the task at hand

By Clare Jensen

The jail is too crowded, and class C and below criminals from Pierce County are being booked, printed and released right into the heart of Tacoma.

It is a problem that residents of neighborhoods across Tacoma and law enforcement can all agree upon – it is something they all know needs to be addressed.

So what is the problem? If everyone shares the same frustration toward letting Hilltop be the “dumping ground” for misdemeanor criminals countywide, why isn’t it being changed?

Well, as Tacoma Municipal Court Presiding Judge David Ladenburg simply put it at a community forum March 20, “It’s a budget issue.”

At the forum titled “What to do about Pierce County Jail,” a crowd of more than 100 people gathered to gain some insight and give input to a panel consisting of Pierce County Superior Court Presiding Judge Thomas Larkin, Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Gerald Horne, Sheriff Paul Pastor, Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell and Ladenburg.

Nearly 4,000 criminals with class C felonies or lower (which includes third-degree child molestation, rape, stalking, assault, DUI and criminal trespass against children) were released in 2007 because there is not enough money to staff the vacant pods of the jail.

Also, there is not enough money to address the issue of inmates with mental health problems in Pierce County, a population that Pastor said should not even be in the jail in the first place.

And even though half of the people booked at the jail hail from elsewhere in the county, there is not enough money or resources to send them back where they came from if they are unable to be locked in a cell, so many of the criminals stay put in Tacoma’s core.

Not to mention the daunting fact that Tacoma Police Department still employs the same number of detectives as it did in 1975, yet the cases have tripled.

And the more than $100,000 catch-and-release-tab the city pays to identify and release the hordes of criminals who never even see the inside of a cell.

“This is a problem and it’s not one that’s going away,” Ladenburg said.

Ramsdell admitted arresting people and putting them in jail is not the solution to the crime problem. “We too get frustrated. How can we reduce crime in your community with a revolving door at the jail?”

Ladenburg suggested that the county look at implementing a pre-release program that would transport those released, as well as connect them with services to keep them from re-offending. He said this is something that could be staffed by volunteers if the money is unavailable.

Additional alternatives to incarceration and extra jail space are all venues that would also keep criminals off the streets of Tacoma, but could be costly to set up.

Community partnerships and crime prevention initiatives, on the other hand, can be cheap and effective in reducing the number of criminals in an area.

“We’re always going to have to do traditional policing,” Ramsdell stated, adding that prevention can be effective as long as it is “a concentrated effort with many moving pieces.”

Hilltop resident Josephine McKay said she was disappointed that no representatives from Tacoma Public Schools attended the forum. Many agree that education is a key factor in keeping citizens out of criminal behavior.

“If kids are not in school…[they have] very limited opportunities in life. That leads them to crime and right down to the jail,” Ladenburg said.

Lincoln District resident Pat McGregor asked the panel what the plan was if they could not “wrangle the money out of a tough city and county government.”

Pastor called to the community for help.

“We’re just part of the solution,” Ramsdell said. “We all have to step up…We all have a stake in this community.”

All panelists at the forum will be on the revised Criminal Justice Task Force, which will also include county council members and community members. The task force will begin meeting at the end of March to further evaluate the Pierce County jail issue.

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