King County to phase out youth detention units by 2025

King County Executive Dow Constantine announced Tuesday that by 2025, the remaining youth detention units in the Clark Children and Family Justice Center (CFJC) will be phased out.

Today I commit King County to converting the remaining youth detention units at the CFJC to other uses as quickly as possible, and no later than 2025.

— Dow Constantine (@kcexec) July 21, 2020

In a series of tweets, he explained that the CFJC detention wing “replaced an old 212-bed building that was unsafe and inhumane” and was built as a part of a “larger aspirational goal of safer, more restorative alternative for every youth.”

He then goes on to say that the vision has since changed.

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With the coronavirus crisis showing the city that “things once deemed impossible are now possible,” Executive Constantine is determined to propose “additional investments to help create healthy and community-based solutions that address the needs of youth and families in King County.”

Redemption begins by shifting public dollars away from systems that are rooted in oppression and into those that maintain public health and safety, and help people on a path to success.

— Dow Constantine (@kcexec) July 21, 2020