Small Town News

Commissioners to state: Keep Pine Lodge prison as is

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County leaders have clarified that they have no plans to add Medical Lake's Fine Lodge women's prison to a list of possible jail replacement sites and are instead focusing on wrapping up their current siting process.

Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich joined Spokane County commissioners Bonnie Mager, Todd Mielke and Mark Richard in a tour of the facility on Wednesday, March 10. Staff members and local officials were also present, including Medical Lake Mayor John Higgins and Airway Heights Mayor Patrick Rushing.

Knezovich and his staff members told a state Department of Corrections representative, Deputy Director of Prisons Earl Wright that the minimum security women's prison is inadequate for housing Geiger's medium and maximum security inmates and that the cost of remodeling would outweigh any potential benefits of using the site for a new jail.

County commissioners said the tour offered a chance to evaluate the facility and its programs following Gov. Chris Gregoire's announcement late last year that Pine Lodge could be closed to help offset the state budget deficit. Commissioner Richard said the county has always wanted to see Pine Lodge stay as is but that taxpayers would judge the county to be negligent if they didn't consider every option to find the greatest savings for a jail replacement.

"Our position has been consistent from day one - this facility should remain open in its current capacity," Richard said. "We're not going to pass judgment on the state's process but it's our belief that Pine Lodge is an important, integral part of the state system and should remain that way."

Following the tour Higgins said he was relieved to hear that the county doesn't want to install a men's jail at the site if Pine Lodge closes, but he's skeptical that the facility will remain as is for long. "As long as the governor feels that somebody has their eye on this facility it's going to make it much easier for her to think she can close it down and save some money and can make some money by selling it," he said.

Pine Lodge, the only women's facility east of the Cascades, was downsized in July of 2009 from a staff of 132 and about 340 offenders to its current 90 staff and 149 offenders. Prison officials said about 70 percent of the current offender population originates from Eastern Washington.

When asked by Knezovich if closure or further reductions at Pine Lodge are a foregone conclusion, Wright said he wouldn't have an answer until the state Legislature, now in its first week of a special session, passes a final budget. "Even then there may be further negotiations about what happens with correctional facilities and how they're ultimately impacted," he said. Wright also said the facility was placed on a list of possible DOC closures not because of a lack of effectiveness, but because of physical plant deficiencies. "This facility is one of those that has been around for awhile. At some point will need some upgrades and so it becomes a facility that is being looked at for possible closure," he said.

Commissioner Mager suggested keeping Pine Lodge viable by sharing the facility between state offenders and the county's female offenders, but said Pine Lodge is out of the question as a jail site replacement because it's too late to add it to the essential public facilities (EPF) siting process. "The EPF is a very extensive process and costs quite a bit of money, we can't just dump a new facility into that process," she said.

The EPF process has reached its final stage now that both "functional" and "qualitative" studies have been completed. The studies are being merged and public comments are being considered before a "weighted" analysis is presented to commissioners later this month and a final site is selected in early April.

A recent working draft of the study lists as the top three sites the existing county campus in downtown Spokane, a gravel pit at Sprague Avenue and Russell Road in Airway Heights and a parcel of land near the Medical Lake Interchange west of 1-90.

During conversation at the outset of last week's tour Airway Heights Mayor Rushing protested the high number of essential public facilities on the West Plains. "The city of Airway Heights is standing up and saying we don't like that - start looking somewhere else and share the wealth a little bit."

"This isn'tabout Airway Heights, Medical Lake, Cheney, the Valley or downtown, this is about where do you build this and how do you build this in the most cost efficient way to save the taxpayer dollars," Knezovich responded. "We're not trying to force it on any community, we're trying to save the community as much money as possible because the entire county is going to vote on this and everybody is going to vote based on their pocketbook."

Meanwhile commissioners and the Sheriff are urging the state not to close Pine Lodge, fearing the negative impacts it could have on the local community. "The Sheriff and I are very concerned about the possibility of closing Pine Lodge and the impact it would have on the Medical Lake community, employees and their families, and even Spokane County's Detention Services Project," Richard said in a press release issued this week. "We believe that Pine Lodge should stay open."

Ryan Lancaster can be reached at ruan@chenevfreepress.com.



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© 2010 Cheney Free Press Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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