A Better Corrections System Ensures Our Safety

Replacing Geiger, Building a Community Corrections Center are the Keys

The Detention Services Project is needed primarily to replace the Geiger Correction Center, an aging WWII era Army barracks that was not designed to be a jail. Geiger is unsafe and inefficient; the poor conditions and physical layout of the building puts our staff and inmates harm’s way.

There’s another reason that Geiger must be replaced: The Spokane International Airport Board of Directors expressed its desire for us to vacate the property when the lease expires in 2013. However, the board says it will continue extending the lease on a yearly basis as long as the project moves toward building a replacement for Geiger.

The Detention Services Project will also provide:

• An efficient and cost effective solution that alleviates overcrowded conditions at the Spokane County Jail and Geiger Correction Center. The proposed site is near the Medial Lake Interchange on I-90 west of Spokane.
• Adequate and economical space for the projected growth in inmate populations over the next 25 years.
• Facilities that provide for the long term safety of the community, staff, and offenders while meeting Spokane County’s fiscal responsibilities.
• A permanent home for Spokane County’s Community Corrections Center, an innovative system of programs that is reducing recidivism. The proposed site is the downtown Spokane County Courthouse campus.
• An April 2011 bond election.

…read more about how A Better Corrections System Ensures Our Safety.