Should inmates from cities outside Everett be sent back there before their release from jail is considered official?
That agreement was passed today by the Seattle City Council budget committee and is expected to be signed by the Mayor of Seattle next week.
One concern recently expressed in front of the Everett City Council as the City of Everett works on its Safe Streets Plan, was the release of inmates from other jurisdictions onto the streets of Everett once they have served their time inside the Snohomish County Jail.
Today MyEverettNews.com received a copy of the proposed agreement between Seattle and Snohomish County a part of which which states…
4.4.3 The City shall provide transportation vouchers, e.g., bus tickets, to Snohomish County to distribute to City inmates to facilitate the inmate’s return to the City upon the inmate’s release. Such vouchers, regardless of specific method of travel funded by such voucher, shall be in an amount sufficient to fully fund the inmate’s return from the Jail to the City. This amount shall not be provided to an inmate in cash or in a medium negotiable for the same amount of the voucher in cash.
Shari Ireton, spokesperson with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, (which provided MyEverettNews.com with the agreement), says there is similar language in all of the jail agreements with cities across Snohomish County.
Click the link below to see the agreement between Seattle and Snohomish County…
Final agreement between Seattle and Snohomish County…2015-2017 Jail services ILA Seattle (final)
So yes inmates arrested outside of Everett but who serve their time at the Snohomish County Jail are released on the streets of downtown Everett and can choose to use a voucher to get back home or are free to remain here.
It should be noted, the City of Everett routinely sends prisoners to Yakima County to save on fees charged at the Snohomish County Jail.
MyEverettNews.com checked with the City of Everett and here is the jail agreement it uses with Yakima. Attachment F section 5 on page 17 seems to show that Everett inmates can choose to remain in Yakima. The language doesn’t appear as clear as in the Snohomish County agreements so we asked Meghan Pembroke with the City of Everett the following two questions regarding the agreement between Seattle and Snohomish County…
1). Is this procedure acceptable to the city administration and police department?
2) Does Everett provide transportation back from Yakima or do we also just issue vouchers?
We’ll provide you the City’s response when we receive it.
November 16, 2015
Everett, Everett Government