Can the downtown Bellingham jail even be renovated?

How much does it cost to maintain?

In 2016 Whatcom County contracted with a consultancy “to identify building systems, materials, and procedures that can be improved to increase building safety and reform processes which would allow the facilities to remain in operation until such time as a new Public Safety Building can be procured, constructed, and occupied.” The report estimated that to correct “current deficiencies” in both the Downtown Jail and the Work Center would cost $10.5 million and $32.5 million for a “Predicted Renewal” (in 2016 dollars) over a 20-year timeframe (2016-2035).

The report concludes that even if these expenditures were made “the existing jail configuration and footprint preclude any meaningful and permanent answers to space-related issues such as medical, booking, classification and programs” and that they “believe the best and only permanent solution is to build a new Jail.”

The county’s Jail Improvement Fund has been in place since 2012 to “… perform maintenance, repairs, upgrades and address safety concerns for the employees and inmates at the Main Jail, and the Jail Work Center.“ It was primarily funded with a $3,004,918 federal bond in 2012. At the time, the county estimated its contribution to these improvements to be $104,680. However, the county’s actual contribution since 2012 has been $6,177,000 for a total of $9,286,778.

Image: Cascadia Daily