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The
Olympian,
Olympia Washington, March 20, 2004
Mold
Sets Free 14 Prisoners
Thurston County officials have set free 14 prisoners earlier than their
normal release dates to alleviate jail crowding following the discovery of
toxic mold earlier this week.
The mold led to the precautionary evacuation
Thursday of the 48 prisoners housed in Post 6 at the jail. Most were moved
into another unit with low-risk inmates, and many will be sleeping on
mattresses on the floor. Another 12 were shipped under contract to jails in
Yakima and Benton County.
The 14 prisoners were released within two weeks
of their sentences being up, Corrections Chief Karen Daniels said. A group
that included judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and probation officers
met Thursday afternoon to review cases and determine who would be released,
she said. Those released are nonviolent offenders who are "not a threat to
the community," she said.
Six of those released were felons. "I think
sometimes the charge shouldn't necessarily be the sole consideration in
risk," Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jon Tunheim said. A misdemeanor
charge doesn't automatically mean someone is less dangerous than someone
being held on a felony, he said. "Usually, if you're in jail for a
misdemeanor, it's because of history."
All of the releases were approved by judges in
district and superior court. "The main thing I think people need to
understand is we were overcrowded before yesterday," Daniels said. "We
simply don't have the beds available."
Daniels said there will be continued adjustment
to accommodate all the prisoners, which means watching for inmates who are
eligible for work release or electronic home monitoring, or for others who
can be sent to jails elsewhere.
The mold problem was discovered about 10 days
ago by workers fixing a leaky toilet in the minimum-security housing unit in
the jail's basement. The mold spread because water seeped under steel
paneling protecting the sheetrock walls.
Results from air samples came back Wednesday
and showed "significant" amounts of mold spores, according to the Thurston
County Health Department. Public Health Officer Diana Yu said the mold posed
no immediate health problem, but she recommended removing inmates with
respiratory illnesses or other health problems. Once construction starts, it
also could stir up mold spores, which might increase the risk to inmates.
Mold can pose health risks, especially for
people with respiratory problems, because it produces airborne toxins. More
commonly, mold spores provoke allergies and skin irritations.
Daniels said none of the inmates or officers
have reported any respiratory problems. "There wasn't any imminent health
danger," she said.
Monday, county commissioners will be asked to
approve an emergency resolution that will allow the normal bidding process
for the work to be bypassed. That could allow repairs to be completed weeks
earlier than normal, said Central Services Director Jim Wilcox.
That will likely save a lot of money, he said,
because housing the 12 prisoners in other jails costs $720 a day.
Wilcox said it's too early to know what it will
cost and how long it will take to fix the problem. Four to six weeks is his
current guess, he said. "Until we get in there and know what we're dealing
with, it's a guess and a hope," Wilcox said.
Jail officials hope to persuade voters to
approve an $88 million bond to help pay for construction of a $102.7 million
new jail and justice center, which is proposed for construction in Tumwater.
The bond, which goes before voters in May, would increase property taxes
about 51 cents per $1,000 of assessed value for 20 years, or $87 annually on
a $170,000 home.
Chris Stegman, who belongs to a group called
Thurston Jail Alternatives, which opposes the bond, said he doesn't think
voters should see the mold as a reason to approve the new jail. He thinks
proper maintenance could have caught the problem earlier.
Stegman also said he thinks the jail staff has
tried to gather support for a new jail by not looking at short-term options
to cut jail crowding, such as moving work release prisoners out of the jail
and using the space for other prisoners.
Wilcox said they have a routine maintenance
program for systems in the building, but to detect the mold would have
required inspecting inside of walls.
Daniels said discovery of the mold has nothing
to do with gathering support for a new prison. "When we find something,
we're obligated to jump on it right away," she said. "I don't believe people
understand the ongoing problems we have with this facility," she said. "This
is one of many."
Those problems, she said, include heating,
plumbing, electricity and locks. Wilcox said the building was not intended
for its current use.
"These facilities really weren't intended to
last this long and work this hard," he said. "I would describe it as
functionally obsolete. Even if it was fixed up, it would be the wrong
facility in great shape."
This is the second mold
problem faced by the jail in less than a year. In October, crews finished
replacing walls in the jail annex where moisture from leaky windows caused
an infestation. The problem did not require inmate relocations.
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