Hoquiam Jail will be open 24 hours a day and hire 4 new officers
The Hoquiam Jail will be open 24 hours a day once again. The Hoquiam City Council passed a report allowing Mayor Jack Durney to sign an agreement with the Department of Corrections that would re-open the jail and hire four additional officers.
The Department of Corrections is implementing a new “Swift and Certain” probation model. The most significant change being that it is mandatory for offenders to serve short-term jail time for all probation offenses, with no discretion. Most of the supervised offenders in the county reside in the Aberdeen-Hoquiam area, making the Hoquiam Jail a central hub to house offenders in the program.
The new program, sponsored by Senator Jim Hargrove of Hoquiam, is based on a similar program in Hawaii. Under the prior system, lesser offenders were not pursued for lack of jail space. Under Swift and Certain, all offenders will be met with jail time from 3-30 days on any probation violation.
Hoquiam Police Chief Jeff Meyers says they have already started to see similar progress with the warrant sweeps that they have been utilizing.
The DOC will pay 80 dollars per day per inmate for beds in the Hoquiam Jail.
