Officials from cities in north and east King County, including Seattle, are recommending to their councils building a single 640 bed municipal jail facility to serve their collective needs.

Preliminary results of a feasibility study show the cities north and east of Seattle would cut their per-inmate costs by half, and Seattle's costs are also reduced, if these cities jointly build a misdemeanant jail. The study was expected to be released by the end of the month.

The cities expected there would be some economies of scale for a single facility but the draft feasibility study shows significant savings, primarily from operational costs. For example, one jail - one jail director; two jails - two jail directors; one jail - one booking center; two jails - two booking centers.

The north and east cities of King County have been working together to address the shortage of misdemeanant jail beds and will now begin the process of identifying potential sites within their jurisdictions for a municipal jail. These will be considered as possible sites for the joint facility in addition to those already identified in Seattle.

Two potential jail sites in the areas around South Park and White Center have drawn fire from the Highland Park Community council and from some in South Park and White Center.

Together, the cities need approximately 640 jail beds. Seattle estimates it will need 445 jail beds for misdemeanant offenders over the next 20 years, while the north and east cities in the county estimate they will need almost 200 beds.

Cities are responsible for jailing people convicted of misdemeanor offenses. Most cities located in King County have contracts with the county that allow them to house their misdemeanants in the county's jail. The county is responsible for housing felons and those arrested for misdemeanors in unincorporated areas. Due to space constraints in existing county facilities, however, King County is requiring that Seattle and other cities end their use of the county jail for city misdemeanants by the end of 2012.

The King County Council requested Sims extend jail services contracts with local cities in the short- and long-term, pursue expansion of the Regional Justice Center in Kent, and collaborate on planning for additional jail beds.

While the cities welcomed the council's action, it does not formally guarantee any jail beds for cities. Extending the jail services contract to 2014 allows a more realistic time frame for additional jail facilities to be sited and built but does not allow cities to stop planning for a new jail to house cities' misdemeanants. Cities still face a capacity issue that needs to be addressed by building a new facility or facilities.

Due to geographic considerations, two groups have formed to address the shortage of misdemeanant jail space. These two planning efforts are coordinated and all the cities are working closely together to meet their collective needs. The North/East Cities Committee is composed of 23 cities, including Bellevue, Issaquah, Kirkland, Redmond, Seattle and Shoreline. Among them, the 23 cities estimate they will need 640 beds for misdemeanant offenders over the next 20 years. In addition, five South King County cities - Auburn, Des Moines, Federal Way, Tukwila and Renton - have formed the South Corrections Entity and are pursuing the construction of a 680-bed jail facility to meet their needs over the next 20 years.