Comments

1
Good on ya', Ed.
3
Coughelectionyearcough
4
Pay the fuck up white people. Black lives matter. http://dailycaller.com/2017/01/30/blm-an…
5
Good God, Murray is such a weenie. Mark my words: He very well may be the reason that Seattle will get a Republican mayor for the first time in approximately one million years.

As I have said before, and will say again, this is a stupid cause. The current facility is abhorrent, the money has already been allocated (and a lot of it has been spent), and the idea that we will get to zero youth incarceration is as dumb as the idea of a "Hate Free" Washington (Stupid people will always hate. Smart people can pass laws making it inconvenient, expensive and unpopular to act on that hate, but that's about it).

If we build this building and we continue to reduce the number of youth who are incarcerated, the worst thing that will happen is that we have an underutilized building, which is not the end of the world (look at Seattle Public Schools). If we allow the status quo, we keep putting kids in a building that is not fit for occupancy, thereby telling them that we don't care - either that, or we lock the worst ones up at King County Jail.

And let me say - again - that the money allocated by bond issue for the jail cannot be redirected to not "caging youth". It was intended for a youth jail. So, we either build a youth jail. or we go through the ridiculous charade of returning the money to the taxpayers (and if you think there won't be a lawsuit demanding that, I have a bridge to sell you).

The county should just build this thing down in Kent next to the regional justice center, sell the land in the CD off to developers and be done with this stupid, stupid, stupid issue.
6
@2

When a 13, 16 and 17 year old shoot five people, killing two of them, what do you propose instead of juvenile detention? http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northw…

When a 17 year old shoots and kills his 17 year old girlfriend, what do you propose instead of juvenile detention? http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news…

When a 16 year old with a rap sheet and a 14 year old accomplice shoot and kill another 16 year old, what do you propose instead of juvenile detention? http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news…

I get that these kids need help and services but are we really supposed to let them receive services at (a foster?) home as if there were no consequences for taking another life? I kind of prefer forced attendance for these kids.
7
If the government can not act within 5 years on the bond money it took for this purpose, then it is time to return the money with interest. If people want children processes through the existing facility, then so be it; I think that is a mistake. We have the money and land to create a much better Juvenile Justice Center here in Seattle, but if it is more important to have the families of juveniles travel to Kent for service then don't complain about the commute in the future.
8
Landlord dear, "the government" is perfectly capable of acting, and has been acting - the permits are issued and the contracts activated. It's the political class that keeps waffling on this.

And don't think a refund would be a big bonanza either: if you take the entire amount of money collected, minus all the work that has been done and all the cancellation fees, etc - then add the legal and administrative costs of determining who is owed what, any refund would be minuscule. Remember the "refund" from the lawsuit over who pays for streetlights? The amount that individual ratepayers got back was a few dollars. The amount of tax dollar wasted would be in the millions, and all to make a point about a policy goal that has very little to do with the actual building.

This is a failure of political leadership. Hopefully Constantine will file this in the appropriate cabinet and continue on.
9
Macho Man Randy Savage wrote a wonderful editorial earlier when he convinced me that we must build many many juvenile prisons because so many young black children need shelter and food in the winter. Without these lifestyle incarceration centers Randy Savage doesn't feel safe.
10
I totally agree with Catalina on this. The thing that catches me is this isn't building ANOTHER detention center, this is merely REPLACING a detention center. The building is totally decrepit and unsuitable for use right now. If we have to send kids to detention, and we will always have to send some kids to juvie (even if we eliminated poverty), then I'm all for making their stay a bit cozier.

There's people advocating for eliminating all prison because of the over-jailing that we have committed against the minority community. I agree. We need to fix that. But, there are some kids who require detention because of criminal acts (e.g. rape or murder). I can't agree with the no jail ever crowd. If they wanted to move the detention center somewhere else...yeah, sure, whatever. But, I would think having it in the city would make it easier for people to visit their family rather then putting the center out in the middle of Kent or whatever.
11
The old building is horrible. The replacement building is

.. a juvenile detention center that cuts the county’s juvenile detention bed count in half, while adding space for a King County Library site, a spiritual center, mental health services and an activity room dedicated to creative writing, yoga, improv performance training and mentoring programs. It’s also designed flexibly so that if the juvenile detention population continues to decline, more bed halls can be converted into non-detention program space


Opponents are glossing over this fact. This was designed the right way, to phase out incarceration. Maybe there are too many beds to begin with, but that seems like a pretty easy fix (whether it happens before or after). Maybe we spent too much money on this thing, but the money has already been allocated. This complex is a solid step in the right direction -- spending less on incarceration, and more on help. If folks can come up with a plan to do more of that, then everyone wins -- but if you cancel this thing, everyone loses.

I am with folks who are fighting the war against the prison industrial complex, but I think this is just the wrong battle.
13
Oh, and I agree with misanthrope about not putting this in Kent. This should be as convenient as possible for friends and family so they can help the teenagers who need it.
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@6, when kids commit murder perhaps we should jail their parents instead. Perhaps, if repercussions exist, less shithead people would shit out kids they inevitably raise shittily.

It's the horrendous "parents," not the kids.
15
To clarify, there is no proposal to put it in Kent. I just used that as an example. However, with the way the suburbs are becoming more dense, it's not all that implausible.
16
@15 Oh, I know. I was using Kent as a placeholder for "city in King County that isn't rich enough to protest and is also not easy to get to via public transit."
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@14 Sure, but why not both child and parent(s) locked up for services apart and together?

p.s. I do wish we'd stop arresting kids for merely dumb or petty-criminal or drug-related kid behavior, which are probably the vast majority of how/why kids end up there.

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