(The Center Square) – Facing a backlog of updates, Spokane County may reduce oversight of how the two local jails modify their policies to avoid costly lawsuits over noncompliance with changes in state law.
The process is currently governed by a 2015 resolution that Detention Services Chief Don Hooper says hasn’t been updated since. The Board of County Commissioners adopted that at the time to align their policies with changes in state and federal law, using a platform developed by a company called Lexipol.
More than 12,000 jurisdictions nationwide rely on the platform, but Hooper said the language in the resolution limits its impact. That document directs the board to negotiate any indirect impacts of the policies if requested by a union, allowing Hooper to then temporarily alter the policies as a result.
However, the board reserves the authority to approve final changes, which can delay the process.
“I mean, the policy we have now is 459 pages — I read every page,” Commissioner Al French joked on Tuesday as Detention Services presented. “I mean, this ought to be the expectation for the full board.”
Custody Lt. Lewis Wirth said the resolution currently requires a SCDS lieutenant and sergeant to review updates issued by Lexipol. Then the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and the Civil Department review those updates as well, with SCDS command staff joining in before the updates finally reach Hooper.
After he gets a hold of the updates, Hooper presents them to the board for a vote on final approval.
He said adjusting the process would make this less overwhelming for the board and would allow staff to tackle 19 policy updates and one other minor change. The priority updates have to do with staff and inmate contact, reporting inmate deaths, mental health services, use of restraints and more.
Nathan Poston, an attorney in the prosecutor’s office, said Hooper can issue policies that take effect immediately, but the county can’t officially repeal the old ones until the board approves any updates.
“Kind of an interesting issue, and I think that part of the overall goal is to make sure you as a board are responsible for adopting the jail policies … in a way that the board is comfortable with,” he said, “but also recognizing that sometimes the dynamic environment of a jail, different issues come up.”
Poston said sometimes the courts issue rulings that require Hooper to amend policies the next day.
The chief wants authority to update policies as provided by Lexipol while still requiring the prosecutor’s office and the Civil Department to review those updates first. He would then provide quarterly updates to the county commissioners on any changes, and the board would also have access to log in to Lexipol.
Commissioner Chris Jordan asked if they had any other ideas, such as setting a time frame for when a temporary policy would repeal an existing standard or having the board review updates as a package.
Some of the updates are just grammatical changes, so Hooper’s team said it comes down to how often they want to discuss this. Another suggestion was to implement a sunset clause that repeals any new policies after a certain period if the board doesn’t review and approve them during that window.
Hooper will return in a few weeks to provide a rundown on each of the major policy updates they need to address. He will also present a model policy that further explains the desired changes to this process.
“It’s not that I want to micromanage the jail,” Jordan said, “but it’s a high liability area, so I’m just a little bit reluctant to just kind of have the board say you get to do it without us kind of approving the policy.”
