CDN SPECIAL REPORT

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Beyond Bars: The future of justice in Whatcom County
is a special report that explores the county’s controversial effort to build a new jail. Voters on recent jail bond measures made it clear they won’t accept a new jail without better social services for the people who wind up behind bars.


Written by Ralph Schwartz // Photos by Hailey Hoffman

In collaboration with KMRE Community Radio, with help from Whatcom County Community College student Marina Sanders and Western Washington University students Jenelle Baumbach, Halle Jordan and Kendall Welch.

Two inmates sleep in their cell, including one on a mat on the floor, at the Whatcom County Jail in November 2022. The downtown jail, built with a capacity of 148 inmates, routinely holds about 190.

Part I: What will replace Whatcom County's failed jail?

Proposed remedies seek balance between safety, support


Read part one, which looks at conditions inside the existing jail, gleaned from a tour CDN and KMRE staffers took in November 2022. We also look at the ups and downs (mostly downs) of the jail measures placed on the ballot over the past 26 years.



The Whatcom County Jail has been overcapacity since 1989, five years after it opened. Ballot measures that would have funded a new county jail have failed twice in the past eight years.

Part II: Poor planning, levy defeats mar jail effort

Officials say Whatcom jail obsolete soon after it opened


Voters on recent jail bond measures made it clear they won’t accept a new jail without better social services for the people who wind up behind bars. The Whatcom County Jail was obsolete soon after it opened, officials said. Part two explains more about the two failed levies intended to replace the jail — and how that experience guides what's likely to be a third.



A Whatcom County Corrections Officer holds a packet of Narcan to treat narcotic overdoses. Officers carry them in pockets and stash them around the jail, so they're easily accessible if and when they need them.

Part III: Most people in Whatcom County's jail are in crisis

Planners want social services in new lockup


Part three takes a closer look at three social ills that contribute to incarceration: homelessness, serious mental illness and substance use disorder.



Part IV: Whatcom County wants to build more than just a jail

Officials hope social programs will curb incarceration


Part four examines possible solutions, both present and future, to “the big three” social ills. The story includes experiences of a diversion program participant, “Tony,” who agreed to share his story if he could maintain his privacy.