Commissioners sign new Martin Hall pact

Whitman County commissioners on Monday signed an agreement for the Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Facility.

During a workshop before the commissioners’ regular meeting, commission chair Art Swannack said as of March 27, there were 38 juvenile inmates at the center, more than twice the number in the last couple of months.

He also commented that Spokane’s juvenile hall was at maximum capacity and could not take any more juvenile offenders if Martin Hall went over capacity.

In February, the hall housed an average of 13 juvenile offenders.

The amended agreement the commissioners approved will better sustain the juvenile facility for one more year and requires each county to make payments to the hall whether the county has juveniles housed there or not.

Swannack, who represents Whitman County on the hall’s board, said although the numbers of juveniles in the hall has remained low the last several months, March’s number spiked. The average number of juveniles has hovered around 17 at the Medical Lake center per day.

To keep the center financially stable, at least 29 juveniles must be in the facility per day, at a cost of $155 per juvenile inmate per day. Whitman County has averaged one or two juvenile offenders at the center per day for almost a year, Swannack said.

Spokane County opted out of the agreement in 2012, but have placed overload juveniles in the facility.

The new agreement means Whitman County must pay between $40,000 to $45,000 this year.

The member counties besides Whitman County include Adams, Asotin, Douglas, Ferry, Lincoln, Pend Oreille and Stevens.

Swannack has said that the juvenile center is losing $25,000 a month for every four juvenile inmates under the minimum number of 28 inmates it takes to keep the center financially stable.

Since 1996, each county paid for a set number of bed-days per year. Whitman County averaged 2.5 beds per day, 912.5 beds per year, paying $141,437. Participating counties pay $155 per bed, per day.

Martin Hall’s board late in 2012 adopted a “pay-as-you-go” policy, not committing to a strict payment for the hall’s use, but only paying for the number of beds each county actually uses.