Olympia Municipal Court implements rehabilitation, services reforms 

The Olympia Municipal Court is transforming to improve access to justice, expand rehabilitation programs, and implement evidence-based best practices.  

Under Judge Pam Nogueira's leadership, the Olympia Municipal Court staff has implemented changes in the court services, probation, and community court departments.  

At the Olympia City Council meeting on Monday, Nogueira said they have been reviewing all policies to ensure access to justice. "[We] make sure that access to justice is at the forefront of this court, that every policy we have is inclusive and proper according to the state of law, court rules, and so on." 

As part of public outreach, the judge said they created social media accounts and updated the court's website for accurate information. They have hosted drives and resource fairs in the last ten months and participated in career fairs.  

In addition, the court services department is developing a mock trial program for fifth graders in an effort to reach every age in the community.  

Nogueira also mentioned that they restarted annual staff evaluations and created an anonymous survey to ensure staff growth and development.  

"We have been working in obtaining a new building so that we can better serve our community, and better serve our staff by being more secure and have a better environment to work with," the judge added.  

Community Supervision 

One of the main changes in the probation department is renaming it Community Supervision.  

"The term probation is not well seen. It's not well received, and it does very little for the actual participants coming to probation to see that as an environment that they are well received, welcomed, and offering them rehabilitation," Nogueira explained. She said the court is trying to change the probation department to improve and expand the existing resources within Jail Alternatives. The focus will be on rehabilitation.  

Nogueira informed the city council that the court has been utilizing several Jail Alternatives programs as part of its community supervision efforts. These include: 

• Work crew – participants perform community service work. This initiative resulted in 204 days of work crew labor this year, saving the city an estimated $26,520 in costs.  

The judge said that the people assigned to the workcrew are cleaning the streets, which saves money from other employees who would have been doing that work.  

"This is a great way of rehabilitating folks, but it is also a more economical way of addressing the problem within. Every time we send an inmate to Nisqually jail, we pay $130 per night per inmate," Nogueira pointed out.  

• Soberlink – which uses a breathalyzer device that participants take home and use for random breathalyzer tests throughout the day. This provides accountability for participants in the community supervision program without requiring jail time. The judge highlighted the use of Soberlink as another jail alternative that has saved an estimated $225,000 so far this year. 

• Electronic home monitoring (EHM)  

Community Court 

According to Nogueira, the community court program needed to follow better practices when she first took office in October last year.  

The court invited the Administrative Office of the Court (AOC) to audit the program and provide guidance on implementing evidence-based practices.  

The court also secured a $212,656.66 grant fund for restructuring the program.  

Nogueira discussed the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP), now known as All Rise. The organization has collected decades of evidence and published a manual outlining 10 specific standards for evidence-based treatment court.  

"Every time you talk about an evidence-based program, you want to make sure that you follow the evidence,” Nogueira said. “Otherwise, you don't have specific results. You don't have any guarantee of success." 

The court's goal was to restructure the community court program to align fully with the NADCP's 10 standards, such as defining the target population, promoting equity, establishing the judge's role, using incentives and sanctions, maintaining strong treatment-provider relationships, and collecting data to monitor program effectiveness.  

Nogueira announced they will officially relaunch the community court program on Sept. 18.