Everett Drops Opposition To Seattle Inmates in Snohomish County Jail

Today the City of Everett agreed to drop its opposition to a contract between Snohomish County and the City of Seattle to house inmates in the jail in downtown Everett. The contract is worth $3 million dollars to Snohomish County but Everett objected to the wording regarding inmate releases.

The wording of the agreement has been amended to now include the following three items which were unanimously approved by the Snohomish County Council…

1). WHEREAS, the Sheriff’s Office has taken steps to lessen the likelihood that contract inmates will end up homeless within Snohomish County; and

2). WHEREAS, the Sheriff’s Office wishes to work with Snohomish County cities to further address issues around inmate release and return to the original jurisdiction;

3). Requests that the Sheriff’s Office take all legal measures necessary to return all Seattle inmates to the City of Seattle upon their release; review release practices and procedures in consultation with the City of Everett in approximately 90 days; and based upon this review, the County and City will enter a memorandum of understanding memorializing the procedures used by the Sheriff’s Office to continue returning Seattle inmates to the City of Seattle upon their release.

You can click below to see the entire agreement and amended motion approved by the County Council.

Amended Motion 15-377

Here is part of what Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson told the County Council…

I appreciate Sheriff Trenary and County Council President Somers for working with me and my staff to develop the language in the amended motion that was passed by the County Council this morning. Ensuring that inmates are returned to their city of arrest is critically important to this community, and the amended language addresses those concerns.

The Sheriff’s Office has been an important partner in our ongoing efforts to address street-level social issues in our community, including participating in the CHART program focusing on chronic utilizers of our resources, and canceling the contract with the Department of Corrections to house felons at the County jail. I am grateful for the good working relationship we have with the County and the Sheriff’s Office, and I look forward to continuing our cooperative efforts to address homelessness and other street issues in Everett.

MyEverettNews.com has asked the Sheriff’s Office for examples of the steps that will lessen the likelihood of Seattle inmates ending up homeless in downtown Everett. We’ll update this article with those when we receive them.