Grant County among most jails statewide not allowing service dogs

EPHRATA - Grant County jailers recently denied an inmate's request to have her service dog join her in jail. The county is not alone, as few jails in the state have ever had an inmate make such a request.

In a letter to the Columbia Basin Herald, Kimalee Delacruz said jailers and a nurse at the jail denied her requests to allow her service dog in the facility.

"In writing this, maybe I can finally get what I've wanted, an answer to why I can't get my service dog in here," she stated in her letter.

The Grant County Sheriff's Office answered her question in the form of an official policy banning service dogs from the jail, but allowing them in the visitation area.

"A jail environment is not an appropriate place for service animals. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, state and local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is normally allowed to go. The public is not normally allowed to enter the main confinement areas of a jail, and therefore a service animal is not allowed," Sheriff's Office spokesman Kyle Foreman stated. He added jail officials are concerned about sanitation and feeding of the animal and states the jail is just not set up for dogs.

Delacruz stated she has been in jail for a month and would not say why she needed the aid of a service dog.

Grant County is one of the only jails in the state that has addressed this issue, according to research.

Chelan County Jail Administrator Ron Wineinger said his facility has never had a request for service dogs and said he knows people other than the blind need the assistance of service animals.

"In 2014, we're not just talking about service dogs for the blind, but people dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Diabetes, seizures all types of things," he said.

"You know before you asked the question, I hadn't given it much thought, but we just don't have the facilities," he said.

Adams County Sheriff John Hunt echoed Wineiger's comments that the issue has just not come up. He said if it did, he would ask the court to allow the disabled person to serve his or her time in home detention.

Yakima County Detention Center Lieutenant Marty Cagle agreed jails are not set up for service dogs and her office would also ask the court that an inmate needing the assistance of a service animal be allowed to serve time under home monitoring.

Even large jails in Spokane and Seattle have not had to deal with this situation.

Steve Falcon, confidential secretary at King County Sheriff's Office, said that even though his facility has never had a request for service dog in his tenure, he believes that like Grant County, service dogs are allowed in the visitation area, but not in the inmate area.

Karen Westberg, of the Spokane County Jail, said no one that she is aware of has ever asked for a service animal in jail, but that guards monitor inmate 24 hours a day and are equipped to deal with any medical emergency.

Brenda Murphy, of Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell, said that while her facility does send inmates to area animal shelters to socialize dogs to improve their adoption chances, service dogs are not allowed in prison.

Foreman added the jail does not have the room to store dog food, and inmates are not allowed to bring outside food into the jail. He said visitors are allowed to bring a service animal into the visitation area as long as it does not cause a problem with staff or other visitors.