After nearly three and a half years of booking restrictions, the Thurston County Correctional Facility will fully reopen on Aug. 1, the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) announced Monday.
“TCSO is committed to ensuring public safety,” the sheriff’s office stated in the news release, “While we work to divert a great deal of individuals out of our justice system, our community has experienced a significant lack of accountability from individuals who took advantage of our booking restrictions by repeatedly victimizing others. The time has come to bring those individuals before our courts.”
TCSO imposed booking restrictions in March 2020 in compliance with Thurston County Health Officer requirements, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.
“As a result of these restrictions, law enforcement throughout Thurston County have been unable to make arrests over the last three years for a combination of misdemeanor and felony crimes and warrants, to include felony hit-and-run with injury, felony/misdemeanor theft, felony/misdemeanor property damage, trafficking stolen property, failure to register as a sex offender, fraud, criminal impersonation, identity theft, vehicle prowl, voyeurism and much more,” the sheriff’s office stated.
Instead of being arrested, suspects in these crimes were referred to the prosecutor’s office and released from the scene, according to the news release.
“When warrants for these crimes were issued, deputies were still unable to book the individual into the jail, resulting in a serious lack of accountability for criminal behavior county wide,” the sheriff’s office stated.
Effective Aug. 1, probable cause for crimes and their associated warrants will be accepted at the Thurston County Correctional Facility, according to the news release.
The sheriff’s office has been working with its partners at the prosecutor’s office “to resolve old cases and ensure our deputies are not arresting individuals with warrants that our justice system no longer wishes to pursue charges for,” the sheriff’s office stated.
The sheriff’s office encourages those who have warrants to “proactively address them” by contacting the courts at 2000 Lakeridge Drive Southwest in Olympia.
Prior to COVID-19-related restrictions, the correctional facility was operating “at its breaking point of max capacity” as the jail is “significantly undersized for a county of 300,000 people,” the sheriff’s office stated.
“Should we reach that point again, we will not jeopardize the safety of our deputies or the inmates and booking restrictions may once again be enacted starting with the lowest level misdemeanor crimes and warrants,” the sheriff’s office stated in the news release.
The sheriff’s office is required to maintain space for domestic violence, DUI, felony property crime and violent crime inmates, according to the news release.
