Adams Co. working to address jail closure, maintenance needs
From left, Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner, Adams County Commissioners Mike Garza and Dan Blankenship and Adams County Prosecutor Randy Flyckt discuss the Adams County Jail and what it will take to reopen it during a commissioner's meeting in February.
FILE PHOTO
Adams County Sheriff’s Office staff painted some sections of the jail on their off time, said Sheriff Dale Wagner. Wagner said he wants to make longer-term improvements at the jail facility to prevent staff from being discouraged.
The Adams County Jail is a semi-detached portion of the Adams County Courthouse, pictured, with a separate entrance off North Washington Street in Ritzville.
RITZVILLE — Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner met with the Adams County Commissioners Tuesday to discuss the requirements to re-open the Adams County Jail and make improvements beyond the basic facility needs.
“You guys know the conditions. You know the things that are needed to be fixed. Part of the thing that I wanted to discuss today is where the board feels like we need to go next with the facility. I know the things are going to be worked on,” said Wagner. “I would like to see at least some ideas of the projects that the commissioners and the facilities managers want to do in the jail so we can at least get started on those things.”
The jail, a section of the Adams County Courthouse, has been closed since May 2022, when an altercation between inmates left a corrections officer and one of the inmates seriously injured. After that incident, several staff members left their positions. Without enough manpower, the jail shut down and anyone booked in Adams County has been sent to neighboring counties, which can cause issues when those counties refuse to accept certain inmates. However, Wagner is working to restaff the facility.
“As far as the jail, we have three current openings, seven applications, two in background phase, in hopes that we can get maybe one of those hired off of that, and then we’re probably going to have to have another test with the applications that we currently have to get those hired,” said Wagner.
The staffing issue was the main obstacle preventing the reopening of the jail, Wagner said.
“I'm going to hopefully start doing soft openings as I get enough guys trained to do those types of things,” said Wagner. “We're still going to have beds in Benton County, and we're still going to have beds in Franklin County, but the staffing is what I need to open the jail.”
The county commissioners were provided a list detailing the top priority fixes to the jail facility itself for the safety or retainment of jail staff and inmates, which Wagner said were mostly simple fixes. Wagner said he wanted to look beyond those basic, necessary needs into making more involved updates to the jail.
Wagner cited examples of updating the jail’s plumbing system, making cosmetic and aesthetic improvements, and renovating the jail office layouts, among other things that normally would require moving inmates and interrupting daily operations to accomplish, but would be much easier while the facility is closed.
Commissioner Dale Blankenship said the county’s first step is to figure out how much the necessary requirements for reopening are going to cost.
“We need to…figure out what we've got left after that for the next project, then prioritize, the things we can do next with whatever amount of money (left),” he said.
The county might have new state funding to help with the cost of jail improvements, said Blankenship, but it requires matching funds the county will have to come up with.
“I don't want you to think that I don't think you guys are doing anything. I know that you are. I know the funds are tight,” said Wagner. “But, like I said, I think we need to look at the grander plan. Even if we don't have the money right now, putting out a plan that says, ‘OK, look, we're going to try and upgrade the facility somehow, someway.’”
Wagner said he wanted to make progress on longer-term updates to help the jail staff and make the jail a more appealing workplace.
“What I'm trying to help everybody understand is if we start showing a little bit of progress in something, in the jail, whether it be something cosmetic or something (else), my staff is going to take a little bit more interest in it,” said Wagner. “if progress is stymied, they start getting discouraged.”
Blankenship said that the state funding requires a matching fund and that the board will look into finding out how to make up that money in order to put funds towards jail improvements. Blankenship also said the board needs to speak with Public Works about how much the basic improvements cost and what ARPA funding the county can allocate to the jail.
The commissioners also agreed to speak with jail employees about their concerns and needs when the board next visited the facility later in the fall.
Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android.
