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Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee

WHA-CJS-2025-09-23 September 23, 2025 Public Health & Safety Committee Whatcom County
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The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee held a comprehensive discussion on the future of Whatcom County's Justice Center Project, with major presentations on behavioral health care models, jail design scenarios, and healthcare contracting. The meeting centered on critical decisions about whether a proposed behavioral care center should be in-custody versus out-of-custody and located on-site with the new jail at LaBounty or off-site at Division Street with existing behavioral health services. Hannah Fisk from Health and Community Services presented detailed analysis of three key components: enhanced behavioral health treatment within the jail facility itself, a separate behavioral care center for prosecutorial diversion, and a 23-hour crisis relief center. The committee learned that the crisis relief center faces significant operational funding challenges, with only 40% of users eligible for Medicaid reimbursement, creating an estimated $4-12 million annual funding gap. Adam Johnson from STV updated the committee on Justice Center construction timelines, noting that scenario development and community engagement continue through early 2026. The design-build team is preparing three different facility scenarios with varying bed capacities and service configurations for council consideration. The committee also received an introduction to Correctional Healthcare Partners, the proposed vendor for comprehensive jail healthcare services. Dr. Peter Friedland outlined their model of 24/7 medical coverage and front-door screening, which would replace the current fragmented system of 16 separate contracts at a cost increase of $3.5 million annually.

No formal votes were taken during this committee meeting. All three agenda items were discussion items designed to inform future decision-making. **AB2025-619** - Justice Center Project Discussion: Committee received updates on construction timeline and scenario development. Next milestone is town halls scheduled for early November in Bellingham and Ferndale. **AB2025-661** - Behav…

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**Behavioral Care Center Location and Custody Model**: The most substantive discussion focused on whether the behavioral care center should serve in-custody inmates or out-of-custody participants in prosecutorial diversion programs. Hannah Fisk presented detailed pros and cons for each model. In-custody models offer higher completion rates (18-day average stays with high completion in Nashville) but are limited to those already incarcerated and cannot access Medicaid funding. Out-of-custody models are Medicaid-eligible, serve broader populations, and support prosecutorial diversion more effectively, but require stronger coordination with community partners. **Crisis Relief Center Viability**: Staff revealed significant concerns about the operational sustainability of the 23-hour crisis relief center, despite having $11 million in state construction funding. With only 40% of users Medi…
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**IPRTF Co-Chair Peter Frazier**: Emphasized the collaborative process of the behavioral care center work group, noting remarkable partnership between prosecutors, public defenders, and courts in developing legal frameworks for prosecutorial diversion. **Council Member Ben Elenbaas**: Advocated strongly for a hybrid model combining both in-custody and out-of-custody behavioral care options, arguing the community deserves the best possible outcomes regardless of cost. Questioned why hybrid approaches weren't fully explored. **Council Member Jon Scanlon**: Sought clarity on entry points for subject matter experts from the Child and Family Well-Being Task Force, emphasizing their expertise exceeds typical public comm…
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**Hannah Fisk, on behavioral health design philosophy:** "Behavioral health starts at reentry, or sorry, starts at booking. As soon as you enter something like a jail, the institution begins. And so we want to help people get out of any institution, institutionalized setting, as early as possible." **Council Member Ben Elenbaas, on service expectations:** "I think that we, the community, deserves the best outcome we can even if it's not the cheapest option. Because, like, this is what people …
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**October 7, 2025**: Council expected to consider jail healthcare contract with Correctional Healthcare Partners. **Early November 2025**: Town hall meetings planned for Bellingham and Ferndale to gather public input on Justice Center design. **Next Month or Two**: Council decisions needed on behavioral care center custody model (in vs. out) and location (on-site vs. off-site). **Jan…

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The committee gained detailed understanding of the operational funding crisis facing the 23-hour crisis relief center, revealing that the facility may not be viable as originally conceived despite $11 million in construction funding. This represents a significant shift from earlier assumptions about the crisis center's feasibility. Staff formally presented the in-custody versus out-of-custody decision framework for the behavioral care center, moving the discussion from conceptual to specific policy cho…
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# Behind Closed Doors: Whatcom County's Justice System Transformation The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee of Whatcom County Council convened for an extraordinary session on September 23, 2025, that would lay bare the complex challenges and mounting costs of transforming how the county addresses crime, incarceration, and mental health. What began as a routine committee meeting evolved into a deep examination of fundamental questions about justice, treatment, and the price of reform. ## Meeting Overview Committee Chair Barry Buchanan called the hybrid meeting to order at 10:32 a.m. in the County Courthouse chambers, with members Tyler Byrd and Jon Scanlon present. The agenda promised updates on three interconnected pillars of the county's justice transformation: the new jail and behavioral care center project, healthcare services for inmates, and the philosophical underpinnings of how Whatcom County would treat those caught in the intersection of mental health crisis and the criminal justice system. What emerged over the course of nearly 90 minutes was a portrait of a county grappling with the tension between idealistic visions of reform and the harsh realities of budgets, legal requirements, and political feasibility. The meeting would reveal that even the most well-intentioned efforts to create a more humane justice system are constrained by questions that go to the heart of governance: How much should taxpayers pay? What do voters actually want? And can good intentions survive the complexities of implementation? ## Justice Center Project: Progress Amid Uncertainty Adam Johnson from STV, the county's owner's representative for the Justice Center project, opened with what appeared to be encouraging news about timeline and progress. The design-build contractor team of Clark, Ram Nelson, and RMC is on board, programming and validation work is underway, and community engagement through visioning workshops has begun. "We had a visioning workshop back earlier this month," Johnson reported. "Some members of Council were there, members of the community were there, great visioning workshop with the Design Build Team, hearing input from a lot of different folks." But beneath this surface progress lay a maze of interconnected decisions that would determine not just what gets built, but what kind of justice system Whatcom County will have. Johnson's presentation revealed the project's mo…
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Public Safety Social Services Budget & Finance Government Operations AB 2025 619 AB 2025 660 AB 2025 661 Child Family Wellbeing Task Force Correctional Healthcare Partners Ffab Health Community Services Iprtf Prosecutors Office Sheriffs Office Stv Superior Court Adam Johnson Barry Buchanan Ben Elenbaas Caleb Erickson Hannah Fisk Jill Boudreau Jon Scanlon Kayla Schott Bresler Peter Frazier Peter Friedland Tyler Byrd Behavioral Health Community Engagement Crisis Relief Center Direct Supervision Healthcare Contracting Jail Capacity Justice Center Medicaid Funding Medication Assisted Treatment Nashville Model Prosecutorial Diversion