No New Jail

No New Whatcom County Jail

OUR DEMANDS:

1. STOP the new jail

After Proposition 2023-04 passed in November which increased our taxes to fund the new jail, the County is beginning to implement next steps. There are many opportunities left to prevent this jail from being constructed. If they build it, they will fill it!

2. CLOSE the current jail

Halt new admissions at Whatcom County Jail, the Interim Work Center, and the Juvenile Detention Facility, and release current people incarcerated there from inhumane conditions.

3. FUND non-carceral programs

Invest in community care and services without attachment to jails. This includes no-barrier housing, health care, food sovereignty, and other channels of care.

1. STOP THE NEW JAIL

In November 2023, the Whatcom County government passed a sales tax increase (Prop-04) to fund the construction of a new jail. The cost estimate of the jail is over $137 million, and a 2020 evaluation recommended a capacity to cage 700 people.

A larger facility will only increase the amount of people entangled in the carceral system, further expanding the harms that jails imbue on our community. The jail has already been voted down by the people of Whatcom twice, in 2015 and 2017. NO MEANS NO!

We demand the County follow the directions of the people to recall this initiative and halt all attempts to construct this jail.

2. CLOSE THE CURRENT JAIL

3. FUND NON-CARCERAL PROGRAMS

Use the Prop-04 “Public Safety Tax” to provide no-barrier housing, medical services, harm reduction programs, and food sovereignty services to our community. Jails do not solve the problems they claim to, instead furthering poverty, drug use, and crisis for both those inside and their loved ones.

10 REASONS TO APPOSE THE NEW JAIL

  1. Jails Harm our Communities: Residents of neighborhoods with higher rates of incarceration are more likely to suffer from mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. Additionally, prisons and jails are regular sites of COVID outbreaks, which puts everyone at risk of illness.1
  2. The Current Jail has Not been Taken Care of — on Purpose: The jail, which is 40 years old, was deliberately and illegally overcrowded to justify building a newer jail.2 Despite percentages of a yearly sales tax being devoted to maintenance of the facility, the current jail is falling apart at its seams. We don’t trust that Whatcom County officials and electeds will properly maintain a new facility this time. Moreover, all jails are traumatizing and inhumane places, where no human being should have to live.
  3. Whatcom County Jails Cage People Before they go to Trial: Currently, a staggering 98% of inmates in Whatcom County are pre-trial 3 — meaning they are being punished for crimes they have not been convicted of. Corrupt bail practices and sentencing times means that many people currently incarcerated in Whatcom County jails should be released immediately. 
  4. The Whatcom County Jail System is Racist: Whatcom County is incarcerating Black and Indigenous people in jail at six times the rate of white people,3 more than the national average.1 The entire prison industrial complex is racist and continues the legacy of enslavement and colonization.
  5. Whatcom County Jail Criminalizes Unhoused People: Almost half of people who were in WCJ were previously unhoused and the majority of them said that having housing would have prevented their incarceration.3 Instead of investing more money into the jail system, we should invest in comprehensive public health services and remove barriers to housing, education and employment opportunities. 
  6. Jails are Bad for the Environment: “Prisons have a direct negative impact on human and non-human ecosystems. They pollute the air and produce sewage, toxic chemicals and hazardous materials.”4 Moreover, building new jails disrupts ecosystems. The site for the new jail is located in a biodiverse forest habitat, which would be clearcut in order to make space for the new jail.
  7. Jails Ruin Lives: More than a third of people surveyed reported that they lost their jobs, and a one-half reported they lost their housing due to being in jail pretrial. This is because most jobs, and almost all rentals and education programs, require background checks, perpetuating cycles of poverty.3
  8. Incarceration Increases Likelihood of Premature Death: Spending time in a cage worsens peoples’ mental health and suicidal ideation,5 and increases the likelihood that a person experiences overdose upon release.6
  9. A Bigger Jail will Increase Incarceration Rates: After Skagit County built a new jail, their incarceration rate went up by 30% — even though arrests did not increase.3
  10. We Have Clear Alternatives: We can eliminate the need for a jail by funding mental health services that already exist, removing barriers to affordable and accessible housing, building community-led restorative justice programs — and more!