Martin Hall could close by this fall

The Martin Hall juvenile detention center may be in its last three months. Nine counties voted June 28 to keep the cooperative juvenile detention center open until the end of September while they determine if they will keep the Medical Lake facility operating, according to Commissioner Pat O’Neill.

“We’ll decide if we’re going to close Martin Hall or not,” said O’Neill, who represents Whitman County on the detention center’s joint board of directors.

Martin Hall houses about 19 juvenile offenders a day. To recover operating costs, the facility requires about 25 juveniles. Member counties pay costs for housing juvenile inmates sentenced out of their jurisdictions.

Cost to house a juvenile offender at Martin Hall is $175 a day. Whitman County’s contract with Community, Counseling and Correctional Services, the Montana-based company that operates Martin Hall, guarantees payment for 2.5 beds a day.

With county revenues declining, said Commissioner Greg Partch, many are seeking alternative methods for treating juvenile offenders, such as electronic home monitoring systems.

Whitman, Adams, Asotin, Douglas, Ferry, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane and Stevens counties formed the Martin Hall consortium in 1995. Each county issued bonds to renovate a former residence hall at Lakeland Village into the detention facility. Whitman County will pay off those bonds in 2016.

O’Neill said the counties will vote at the end of September whether or not they will close the facility.

He added CCCS has offered to drop its rate increase next year, saving the county about $60,000. The firm is also offering to transport juveniles to and from the center instead of having county employees drive them back and forth. That will save all the counties about $100,000 a year, said O’Neill.

CCCS will fund the discount costs by tapping profits from its other detention centers. O’Neill said the firm runs facilities throughout the west and midwest.

“In other areas of the country, their juvenile population is booming,” said O’Neill.

Whitman County is in a tighter spot than other counties in the consortium.

O’Neill noted other counties could send their juveniles to other nearby facilities. There are other juvenile detention centers in Nez Perce, Walla Walla and Benton counties.

Partch noted state regulations prevent the county from using its jail to house juvenile offenders. They cannot be placed in the same facility as adults, said Partch.