New plan: Lynnwood jail could include a mental health wing
LYNNWOOD — Plans for a new jail here now include a mental health wing amid calls to redirect resources from incarceration to recovery initiatives.
The proposed Community Justice Center, which would house a new jail, a misdemeanor court and the police department, was to include 120 jail beds, a marked increase from the 46 beds in the current facility. Under the new plan, it will have 84 beds, police chief Jim Nelson said at a Tuesday evening City Council meeting.
Nelson said that before the COVID-19 pandemic diminished capacity, the city needed about 70 beds. One day last month there were only two people there.
Tuesday’s meeting was the council’s first since it delayed a vote last month on the construction contract for the center in the face of strong criticism from the family of a woman who died by suicide in the jail in July and others. Since then, a task force headed by state Rep. Lauren Davis, a Democrat from Shoreline, and Nelson has met for the past five weeks to develop the plan. On Tuesday, it was presented to the public for the first time.
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/new-plan-lynnwood-jail-could-include-a-mental-health-wing/