Seattle-area jail reopens for misdemeanor bookings after four years

The King County jail has finally resumed booking offenders for misdemeanors including petty theft, criminal trespass, and public drug use after a four-year hiatus.

The rules banning misdemeanor bookings had been in effect since March 2020, due to social distancing rules implemented at the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak.

At the time, Democratic King County Executive Dow Constantine said the changes were necessary to create more space for violent offenders who had been determined to be threats to public safety hazards, according to KOMO News. The jail also stopped intakes of probation violators.

Typically, non-violent offenders were fined at the scene of a crime or released on their recognizance almost immediately and would then go on to re-offend often with the same or more serious offenses.

Despite COVID-19 restrictions being lifted across King County for years, the stop on misdemeanor bookings at the jail remained in place because of low staffing levels.

A new contract negotiated between Constantine and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harell ended the four-year restriction on misdemeanor bookings and opened 135 additional beds at the jail for people arrested on misdemeanor offenses. The new contract began on Nov. 1.

A spokesman for the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention Noah Haglund said in a statement that hiring bonuses for new corrections officers has led to increased staffing levels at the jail.

Local law enforcement has advocated for the change as crime has continued to rise in the Seattle area despite crime in nearly every other major city declining, according to an analysis by the Seattle Times.

Deputy Police Chief Eric Barden told the outlet, “We’ve had people tell us, ‘You can’t arrest me for that.’ Well, that was true but now we can. We’re hoping to get a little bit of accountability back.”