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Justice Dept. settles on jail
Seattle’s new policy is taking shape: It involves closing schools and building jails.
Better training for jail guards and more oversight of their use of force are the main actions called for in an agreement that the U.S. Department of Justice has reached with King County regarding life-threatening problems that the DOJ cited at the jail after conducting an investigation in 2007.
Among the DOJ’s findings, released in a November report, one man died of a perforated stomach ulcer after waiting seven hours to see a doctor; guards pepper-foamed the face of a developmentally disabled inmate having a seizure and, on one of two site visits made to the jail, DOJ civil rights investigators found a mentally ill woman vomiting and shaking in her cell. The report also cites inadequate cleaning as a risk factor in spreading disease such as the MRSA infection superbug [“County Jail taking civil rights violations one step at a time,” Feb. 13-19, 2008].
To correct the problems, an agreement reached with the county’s Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention (DAJD), which operates the 1,700-bed jail, calls for creating a Use of Force Board to review incidents involving restraint and give direction on policies and training based on its findings. DAJD will also provide more use-of-force training for guards (including a mandatory 16 hours for those who have had no training in the past three years) and improve cleaning of inmate cells, including replacing 3,500 mattresses, a process begun last year.
The department will also continue negotiations with the Department of Justice to reach other goals laid out in the agreement, including making each guard who supervises inmates take at least four hours of training on the use of force and revising jail policies on restraint practices and internal investigations. Other as yet unmet goals include putting adequate policies and procedures in place for suicide prevention, providing timely medical care for inmates with serious conditions, adopting disease-control measures, and giving inmates a daily change of underwear and two uniforms, towels, and sets of sheets each week.
To cover the extra costs, including laundry, the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention is seeking an extra $2 million for 2009 and $1.7 million a year after that — a request that the King County Council plans to take up Mon., Jan. 12, when it considers approving the agreement at its regular 1:30 p.m. session. County staff will go over the agreement’s details in a preceding council briefing at 9:30 a.m. Both are scheduled for Council Chambers, 10th floor of the King County Courthouse, 516 Third Ave., Seattle.
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