Can King County actually close its youth jail? It's not so simple, audit finds

In 2020, amid racial justice protests, King County Executive Dow Constantine vowed to close a newly-built youth detention facility in the next five years.

A new county audit of the facility, called the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center, points out the complications of actually accomplishing Constantine’s goal.

"Protesters actually have called for an end to juvenile incarceration altogether," explained KUOW investigative reporter Ann Dornfeld. The protestors cite the high number of Black youth in the criminal legal system, and point out that it's traumatic for kids to be in detention.

"And that it very often leads to struggles that follow them the rest of their lives, with increased risk of recidivism, and potentially prison time as adults," Dornfeld said.

Earlier this year, Constantine revised the 2025 closure deadline, and acknowledged that his original goal won’t be accomplished until 2028 at the earliest.

The number of youth held at the facility has gone down from 62 at its peak in 2018 to a daily average of 49 youth. But King County’s audit found that, while fewer youth are in the detention facility, many youth who are there are spending longer periods of time detained.

The audit said that not charging low-level offenses has led to lower rates of detention, but that leaves youth with the most challenging and severe cases left in the facility.

"The detention facility was built with the idea that young people would only be there for 30 days or less," Dornfeld said.

But that changed in 2017, when the county began housing youth charged as adults in juvenile detention, instead of the adult jail. Those with more serious and complicated cases tend to stay much longer in the facility, Dornfeld explained.

"In all of 2023, the average length of stay was only 22 days for young people who are being charged as juveniles," she said. "If you're being charged as an adult though, the average was 250 days."

2023 also saw a large spike in juvenile crime, Dornfeld noted. There were approximately 61% more bookings than the previous year, in part due to a spike in theft of Kia and Honda cars, which are often considered serious felonies.

RELATED: 'Astonishing' increase in car theft charges as juvenile criminal cases surge in King County

They can also lead to other serious crimes, Dornfeld said, including hit and runs, or ramming the cars into businesses, which they then burgle.

The audit also pointed to ongoing staffing challenges at the facility, citing that one-third of positions were unfilled.

Dornfeld said the facility actually hires a lot, and has financial incentives for new hires. But they also see a lot of turn over. There's often mandatory overtime, and most employees thought the facility was going to close in 2025.

"It's harder to get people to sign up for a temporary job," Dornfeld said.

A committee has recommended a plan to have a centralized facility to receive young people who have been booked, then have them either released to their parents or detained in group homes.

RELATED: Group homes would replace youth jail in King County under plan to close detention center

"A big point of contention was whether the group homes would be locked, and even whether the receiving center would be locked," Dornfeld said. "Some folks, like the detention staff and the judges, were very, very firm about it being necessary; others like the public defender's said, 'No, we don't want there to be locked doors.' So they still have to kind of reach some agreement on that."

State law would also have to be changed in order to accommodate an unlocked door policy. Washington currently requires that each county have a secure youth detention facility, which means locked doors.

There is also an argument being made to keep the current facility, Dornfeld noted. Representatives from the detention officers have pointed out that it could act as a short term facility for kids who have been booked, before they're moved on to a longer term solution.

Dornfeld said the committee will meet again next month to hammer out some of the finer points in their plan, and to answer some of those lingering questions.