Mar. 18, 2008 at 12:01am

Attend Pierce County Jail Forum on 3/20 6:00 p.m.

I have received over a dozen notices of the upcoming "Jail Forum" coming up on 3/20/2008.  Below are two of them.

I post both notice below.  Pierce County has been haunted with the Department of Corrections placing a disproportionate amount of state felons in Tacoma and Pierce County in the infamous "dumping ground" issue.

This forum will address people being arrested across Pierce County, quickly booked and then often immediately released on Tacoma Avenue.  It would seem better never to arrest them at all and keep them in the area they were found rather than concentrating them all on Tacoma Avenue.  Perhaps having other "processing" stations in other places in the county would keep all releases from always being placed on Tacoma Ave.

This is another systemic problem Tacoma needs to tackle if it is going to improve its crime statistics.  This is an election year.  Here's a chance for candidates and government officials to let us know how they intend to address this issue.

(From Marty Campbell)

Community groups to host forum on Pierce County Jail

 

TACOMA – In an effort to raise community awareness of the increasing problems surrounding the Pierce County Jail, the New Tacoma Neighborhood Council, Central Neighborhood Council and the Hilltop Action Coalition are hosting a community forum March 20 at 6 p.m. at The Evergreen State College Tacoma Great Room, located at 1210 Sixth Avenue in Tacoma.

 

Pierce County Prosecutor Gerry Horne, Sheriff Paul Pastor, Superior Court Presiding Judge Tom Larkin, Municipal Court Presiding Judge David Ladenburg and Tacoma Police Chief Ramsdell will provide their perspectives on the Jail and take community input on short and long term solutions.

 

Tareena Joubert will facilitate the panel and questions.

 

"This is an extremely important issue, especially in light of recent news of low levels of Jail staffing, the backlog of court cases and the rapid release of inmates," Jeanie Peterson, Director of Community Initiatives for the Hilltop Action Coalition said. "Community input and awareness is absolutely important so we can find real solutions."

 

Other sponsors include City Club of Tacoma, all of Tacoma's neighborhood councils and business districts, and the BIA.

 

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Marty Campbell
1910 So Jefferson Ave.
Tacoma Wa 98402

Phone 253-376-3774

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(From Hilltop Action Coalition)

What to Do About Pierce County Jail

Tacoma's No Income Housing

PIERCE COUNTY JAIL IS

DUMPING INMATES ON HILLTOP

AT ALARMING RATES

If you’ve been following the paper you know about the jail situation, not only are they releasing people because the jail is too full. But it’s so full that they aren’t even putting many criminals in the jail.

The Jail releases inmates when it’s too full:

· 560 inmates were released early in 2006

· 818 inmates were released early in 2007

Criminals don’t see the inside of a cell:

Criminals with a class C Felonies or lower are being SIP’d (Special Identification Process), which means they are being identified (photo & fingerprints) and then released.

· 800 inmates were SIP’d in 2006

· 3172 inmates were SIP’s in 2007

The worst part is that about half of those people (1565) didn’t come from Tacoma; they were arrested elsewhere in Pierce County and released here on the Hilltop.

The City of Tacoma was charged for 1607 of them at a rate of $120 (just to identify them), so in 2007 that cost us (the taxpayers) $192,840.

There is an upcoming Criminal Justice Task Force (end of March) that will be looking at this issue, they have met before, but this time there will be community representation

Here’s your chance to impact this issue:

Five of the people who will be on that Task Force will be at a forum this Thursday; they need to hear from you about this issue. Each guest will open with a 5 minute talk, and then the room will be open to comments/questions from the community. Guests include:

Chief of Police – Don Ramsdell

PC Prosecutor - Gerry Horne

Superior Court Presiding Judge – Tom Larkin

Municipal Court Presiding Judge – David Ladenburg

PC Sheriff - Paul Pastor

Cost / Admission
Free