WHATCOM COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Updates to Whatcom County’s proposed plan for a new jail were revealed at Tuesday’s Whatcom County Council meeting.
Project Director Adam Johnson took the floor at the council’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee meeting to announce some of the plan’s new figures.
Johnson shared that the initial size of the jail has been reduced from 227,000 to 150,000 square feet.
The plan proposes an increase in beds from the current jail’s approximate 427, to an updated 450. 120 of these beds will be used for behavioral health services, a missing feature from the current jail.
Councilmember Barry Buchanan expressed disappointment at the plan’s lack of a second courtroom.
“The second courtroom is a big disappointment. That was something that when I was working on the resolution that set the budget cap and my little mini tour with all the stakeholders,” Buchanan said during the committee meeting. “[The second courtroom] was a through line with all the stakeholders because it doesn’t just help one component of the system, it helps the entire system.”
Questions were also raised around the absence of a reentry center with councilmembers considering options for more funding.
