City, county talk jail

The Mason County Jail has space for 93 inmate beds and a current target population of 60, but staffing shortages mean only people arrested on felony charges are being booked into the facility in downtown Shelton.

The City of Shelton has reserved seven of those inmate beds, but is looking at booking up to 20 beds per month with the Nisqually Tribe for a year, which would be a temporary solution.

Mason County and City of Shelton administrators talked about staffing shortages at the county jail and possible future options at a joint leadership breakfast Nov. 4 at the Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton.

Mason County Administrator Mark Neary said the jail staff is down seven or eight employees, which means the county has to prioritize which inmates they book in the jail.

Kevin Hanson, the county's chief of jail operations, said the jail is funded for 25 full-time employees, and now has 18. The target population is 60 inmates, but staff shortages mean 52 to 60 on a given day, he said.

Only inmates charged with felony crimes - including domestic violence, DWI and alluding - are being booked, Hanson said.

Shelton City Manager Jeff Niten said he is concerned with the city's inability to book more people charged with crimes. It's important for the city to be able to "hold people accountable," he said.

City officials are talking to the Nisqually Tribe about contracting for up to 20 beds per month at its jail facility, Niten said. The city council is scheduled to take a preliminary vote on the proposal at its meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, and then a final vote at the Dec. 6 meeting, he said.

The money would come from the city's reserve funds in the 2022-2023 budget, and thus would be a short-term solution, Niten said.

"Our outsourcing is our way to hold these people accountable now," said Shelton Police Chief Carole Beason said.

When the county could book more inmates, crime decreased, said Sheriff Casey Salisbury. The message was "when the arrests were made, you went to jail," he said.

Then outsourcing got to be expensive, Salisbury said. Over the past four decades, the timing has always seemed wrong for the passage of a building bond to enlarge inmate capacity, he said.

"We always seem to follow the last levy or bond that passed ... It's difficult to vote 'yes, yes, yes, yes' all the time," Salisbury said.

Partnering with another county, such as Grays Harbor, on a new jail facility is a long-term proposal, Neary said. Also in discussions is a public/private partnership, where the government entity would lease the facility and eventually pay to own it, he said.

Mason County Commissioner Kevin Shutty said the county needs to "dive into that staffing issue."

"The city is frustrated, the county is frustrated, law enforcement is frustrated, the public is frustrated," Shutty said. "The only people who are not frustrated are the law breakers."