Rural Washington County Shutters Its Jail
Under Sheriff Bob Songer and his administrator for the Klickitat County Jail (KCJ), Loren Culp, conditions at the rural southwestern Washington lockup have deteriorated so far that County Commissioners voted to close it on March 29, 2024.
The fate of two Native Americans detained there in 2023 drew criticism of medical care and living conditions in the jail. Ivan Howtopat, 24, a known fentanyl user, committed suicide in his cell in May 2023, after an arrest on a felony warrant. Another detainee, Paulette George, had been in the jail almost three months on domestic violence charges when she was found in a severely deteriorated state in November 2023.
After the mentally ill woman was transferred to the local hospital, nurses attempted to brush her hair and were shocked to see the skin on the back of her neck pulling away from her scalp. A cop on hand from the Goldendale Police Department (GPD) noted that she was covered in lice and smelled like “dead rotting flesh.” George had been court-ordered to a psychiatric hospital when arrested, but no beds were available during the months she literally rotted in KCJ.
Howtopat’s family has filed a $20 million tort claim with the county, alleging that his poorly treated withdrawal symptoms left him so ill that he begged a fellow detainee to break his arm so he would be transferred to a local hospital. The jail has also accumulated debt of $192,000 to Klickitat Valley Health (KVH) for unpaid detainee medical bills. In addition, Songer warned that the jail’s insurance premiums would likely rise in light of the Howtopat legal action. But Commissioner Lori Zeller faulted the Sheriff for using jail funds to cover Sheriff’s Office administrative and personnel costs.
When they voted to close the jail, Commissioners announced plans to contract detention space in Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility (NORCOR), a jail currently providing 125 adult beds and 32 juvenile beds for detainees from Gilliam, Hood River, Sherman and Wasco Counties, plus the U.S. Marshals Service. The county is still working out transition details and has not set a firm timeline for the jail closure. But Commissioner Zeller insisted that “immediate change must occur,” citing Songer’s “inability to provide a humane and safe environment” at KCJ.
Unsurprisingly, the decision met opposition from Songer, who counts himself among the members of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), a controversial group of sheriffs embracing a discredited reading of the U.S. Constitution to proclaim authority superseding that of state and federal government officials, as PLN has reported. [See: PLN, June 2024, p.10.] The Sheriff said he was blindsided by the vote to close the jail and lay off its 16 employees—even as remaining deputies will be stretched to move detainees back and forth between NORCOR and the county courthouse for court appearances. “Let’s call it for what it is. It’s political. You know it and I know it,” he told commissioners.
Sources: Columbia Community Connection, Goldendale Sentinel, KUOW, Oregon Public Broadcasting
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