Criminal Justice in Thurston County: frustrating, overloaded and making major progress

Editor's Note: A version of this story previously appeared in Works In Progress  on October 15, 2024.

How does Thurston County’s criminal justice system work? Is there bias in the system? What’s being done to deter people from entering the criminal justice system and to keep them from returning? I’ve been hanging around the County’s justice system for the last ten years asking these questions. Here’s a summary of what I’ve learned. My comments on strengths and opportunities for improvement are shown in italics, below.

I’ve learned it’s complicated! Our criminal justice system has many government agencies including city police and municipal courts, the County Sheriff, the Prosecuting Attorney, the Public Defender, the Superior and District Courts, and the County and Nisqually jails. Then there are agencies providing housing, drug and mental health treatment, and workforce development. Divided responsibility means no one agency has overall control.

Furthermore, the Sheriff, Prosecuting Attorney and judges are all independently elected, so they’re autonomous. Elected County Commissioners have budget control over County departments, but this doesn’t mean they control policy or even spending. (For example, a few years ago, the Sheriff overspent his jail budget by $500,000 and the County Commissioners had no choice but to cover it.) Policy control at the city level is more effective because police chiefs are hired and managed by the city councils or executives.

So, how to coordinate a complex system? Here are the steps being taken locally.

The Thurston County Law and Justice Council coordinates among the local governments and other partners. Our Council has around twenty local agencies, partners and citizen members, and it meets bimonthly. Last year, the Council adopted a “2024-2026 Strategic Plan” with three ambitious goals.

“Goal 1. Prioritize community safety while deterring entry into, deeper involvement in, or return to the criminal justice system.”

“Goal 2. Identify and eliminate disparities in our criminal justice system.”

“Goal 3. Build trust in the criminal justice system among the public, community organizations, and participating agencies.”

Each goal has measurable objectives. For example, one objective under Goal 2 is, “By December 2024, the Criminal Justice Regional Program Manager will have worked with the Racial Equity Program Manager to develop and implement guidelines for collecting, analyzing, and using law and justice data. This will include a data governance plan and structure, and a list of variables and demographic factors that should be considered when assessing equity.”

It’s frustrating that we don’t already have this information already. There are many demands on County government, and it would be easy to let this Strategic Plan deadlines slip. I plan to track the progress of the Council in meeting their objectives and I hope other members of the public will join me. You can find the Council’s documents on its website.

Recently, Thurston County hired a Criminal Justice Regional Program Manager, Leah Landon. Ms. Landon works for the County Manager on making the justice system more effective and efficient. She led development of the Strategic Plan and is key to monitoring implementation. She’s done a great job, but I think she’s overloaded. The County should invest more than one FTE in overseeing its annual $112 million criminal justice budget.

The Thurston County Treatment Sales Tax Program (TST) program is a great model for program oversight. The County collects over $8 million/year in sales tax revenue dedicated to helping people involved in the justice system who have substance use and/or mental health issues. With this money, the TST supports many county and nonprofit programs. More importantly, it requires measurable objectives and annual progress reports from each one. Imagine if this kind of standard were applied to the Sheriff, the Prosecutor, the Public Defender, and the courts! And compare the 1 FTE overseeing the County’s $112 million justice budget to 2 FTEs for the $8 million TST program.

Criminal Justice Data. The Prosecuting Attorney’s office is creating a justice data website like one developed for Yolo County, California. (Kudos to Jon Tunheim). Next year, we’ll be able to see and analyze data about criminal cases from pretrial through prosecution sorted by age, race, crime, etc. We’ll finally have hard data about whether there’s bias in the system. Thurston County has also joined the Justice Counts initiative that will provide technical assistance to help it improve its data collection and presentation. A few years ago, I did a thumbnail analysis of arrest and jail data and found that minorities were arrested and jailed at much higher rates than whites. I’m not a data expert and I hope our elected officials will clean up all their data and make it publicly available.

What’s being done to deter people from entering the system and keep them from returning?

Some say we should just lock up criminals and forget them, but it isn’t that simple. Except for the most serious offenders, most people released from jail or prison will return to their home communities. People struggling with homelessness, mental health and drug issues are more likely to re-offend and cycle through the system. Apart from basic humanity, it’s in our interest to get people into stable housing where they can connect with services to improve their mental health, reduce their drug use, get into the job market, and build stronger connections with friends and family.

In the last 10 years, our county and cities have made major progress toward intercepting people before they get in trouble and providing pragmatic and compassionate treatment of offenders. Here are examples.

Crisis response. Olympia, Lacey, and the Sheriff use crisis responders to provide alternatives to traditional policing for people who are dealing with substance abuse, mental health, or other crises. Many responders have lived experience with these issues so they can better work with their clients. These innovative programs are spreading around the county. Some people object that crisis responders collaborate with the police, but the relationship helps them make seamless handoffs and referrals. For example, when Designated Crisis Responders (mental health professionals) go assess people in a mental health crises, they want the police there as a backup in case of violence and to transport people if they need involuntary commitment. In most cases, though, crisis responders work without the police present to engage with people in distress and direct them to services.

Olympic Health and Recovery Services provides mobile crisis response both independently and in coordination with law enforcement. The Crisis Clinic of Thurston and Mason Counties provides a 24-hour hotline for people in crisis. NAMI Thurston Mason provides information and referral for people and their families who are in crisis.

Thurston County’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) provides case managers to serve people who are in frequent contact with law enforcement and are experiencing substance abuse or mental health issues or extreme poverty. Case managers help those folks with food, housing, health care, jobs, education and more.

Pretrial Services. Thurston County pretrial services staff work with those who have been arrested before they go to trial. Staff help the courts decide whether detainees can be released before trial. If they’re released, staff help them get into diversion programs, access services, and make their court appearances. We’re lucky because pretrial services aren’t available in many parts of the country.

Specialty Courts. Thurston County and the City of Olympia have specialty courts to help rehabilitate people dealing with issues like drugs and mental health. There are also special courts to serve veterans, juveniles, and families. Not every jurisdiction has these courts.  We should thank our judges, prosecutors, and public defenders for their cooperation in making them work. See this excellent video from TVW about our therapeutic courts

Thurston County's newest special court is the Court Alternative Program (TC-CAP). It will “…provide a pathway for individuals who are indigent and have eligible misdemeanors or gross misdemeanors to be easily connected to community-based service providers. These providers will help individuals address the root cause of their criminal behavior which will help limit incarceration and further involvement in the justice system. Programs such as this have been shown to promote confidence in the courts and legal system, while reducing recidivism."

Thurston County Resource Hub. The Hub helps people with behavioral health needs who are affected by the justice system to gain access to health care, education, legal support, housing, benefits, and other support. This is a new program modeled after bigger ones in Tacoma and elsewhere. This is an important way to help people get back on their feet as they leave the justice system.

Friendship Diversion Services contracts with Thurston County to “…provide jail and sentencing alternatives for some criminal court defendants. Electronic Monitoring is provided by Friendship Diversion Services for individuals who are court ordered to serve time or be monitored pre-trial on electronic detention. Pre-Charge diversion is considered for some offenders established on criteria set out by the prosecuting authority, and means the case is referred to diversion without filing charges in court.” The cost for these services is borne by the clients so there is a greater burden on lower-income clients.

Dispute Resolution and Restorative Justice. The Dispute Resolution Center of Thurston County (DRC) works with the Family Court to help divorcing and separating parents develop plans for sharing care for their children. The Court refers all divorcing parents to try DRC mediation before their court dates. In the last few years, the DRC has begun providing restorative justice services. This program helps people who were harmed work with those who did the harm to help them come to terms with what happened and find ways to repair the harm.

In addition to the programs mentioned above, many other public and private agencies provide critical support to people before and after they encounter the justice system. These include the Thurston Mason Behavioral Health Administrative Service Organization, Community Youth Services, Providence's South Puget Sound's Mobile Clinic Program, PacMtn Workforce Development Council, Thurston County Public Health and Social Services, the Northwest Justice Project, Interfaith Works, and the Union Gospel Mission.

This is one person’s view of our local justice system; I hope more people will get involved. I’ve found Commissioner Tye Menser to be especially supportive. Our local officials need to hear that you support the work they’re doing to reduce bias, keep people out of trouble, and get back on their feet.

          ~ Steve Tilley, Lacey

Steve Tilley is a member of Justice not Jails, a  senior mediator at the Dispute Resolution Center of Thurston County, a former member of the Thurston County Treatment Sales Tax Advisory Committee and a former citizen representative on the Thurston County Law and Justice Council. You can reach him at Tilley.jnj@gmail.com