This morning’s The Spokesman-Review published in Spokane, Washington, had an article authored by Mike Prager and headlined “Spokane County Jail is overcrowded and falling apart.”  The headline accurately states the problem.  The overcrowding precedes the falling apart by over a decade.

In early 2006, The Spokesman-Review’s op-ed editor Doug Floyd contacted me and requested that I prepare an op-ed piece for the newspaper.  My response was headlined “Bi-state effort answer to jail overcrowding” which ran in The Spokesman-Review on March 2, 2006.  It seems to me to be an idea worth reconsidering.  I would go even further now and suggest that Washington and Idaho jointly consider acquiring enough land to not only meet the needs outlined in my original op-ed piece, but establish a regional public safety training facility which would provide bi-state certification for public safety officers in both Washington and Idaho.

When my op-ed first ran in 2006, the response from then Kootenai County Undersheriff Tad Leach was to ask what the County would do with the existing facility on Government Way in Coeur d’Alene.  He observed there isn’t much of a market for old jails.  My response was quite simple.  With some modification to parts of each structure, both Spokane and Kootenai Counties could use their respective jail facilities for intake, medical holding, psychiatric holding, and release processing.   Both Spokane and Kootenai County jails are reasonably close to hospital facilities.

Yes, even I recognized then and now that the turf politics associated with such a bi-state facility would be daunting.   But in the end, it would address the seemingly never ending plea for more jail space while also improving the professionalism of the public safety officers in this region.  It’s an idea that should be revisited.