Martin Hall to receive Grant County youth

Jana Mathia, Gazette Reporter | Jan 11, 20180

Grant County has signed a two year contract to house its youth at Martin Hall, the juvenile detention center at Medical Lake. The facility was constructed and is overseen by a consortium comprised of Adams, Asotin, Douglas, Ferry, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens and Whitman counties.

“It will be beneficial to the consortium because it will bring in more revenue,” said Whitman County Commissioner Art Swannack, who is a board member for Martin Hall.

The consortium was created in 1996, with each of the nine participating counties signing a 50-year contract to house juvenile offenders at the Martin Hall site. Each member has an obligation base for usage. Whitman County pays for 2.5 beds per day, per month at a cost of $180 per day, per bed, which is just less than 10 percent of the Martin Hall capacity. Regardless of actual use, Whitman County is contracted to pay for the 2.5 beds per month. Any usage over that results in extra charges.

Swannack noted that while the extra income from Grant County will not change the 2018 budget, it may cause individual costs to go down in the future, depending on the use by Grant County.

Grant County will not have a seat on the board; its payments will be based solely on usage at the $180 per bed per day rate.

The arrangement is also expected to save money for Grant County as well. Swannack noted that the county’s juvenile facility has structural issues, and sending the offenders to Martin Hall is cheaper than rebuilding.

Juvenile offenders by law must be housed separate from adults. The Whitman County jail was constructed with six beds for youth, but those are now used for adults because the adult inmates could still be heard in the juvenile area.