Grays Harbor, Mason Counties Explore Possibility of Shared Regional Detention Center

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Grays Harbor County is studying the development of a regional criminal justice facility with Mason County to address the deteriorating existing facilities and lack of inmate space both counties face.

County commissioners Tuesday approved a request for bid for KMD Architects to do a feasibility study on the facility, which would be located on the border of the two counties. If KMD is also approved by Mason County, negotiations will begin to determine final cost of the study.

The county’s current jail facility “is in pretty sorry shape,” said Commissioner Wes Cormier. He and Commissioner Randy Ross added the juvenile facility, situated in East Aberdeen just north of Junction City, is increasingly threatened by encroaching water from the Chehalis River.

The study will give commissioners a chance to see “what the facility might look like and how it would operate,” said Ross.

There aren’t enough beds to accommodate inmates at the current county facility, said Cormier. “They have the same issues there” in Mason County.

The KMD study, if also approved by Mason County, would consider local factors that have led to the increased jail population. It would also suggest possible locations for the facility, and preview its possible design. Ross said the current trend for such facilities has inmates housed on a single floor, allowing for more efficient movement of inmates within the facility. Staff at the county jail currently has to move inmates between multiple floors.

Commissioners also approved $26,553 for Thomas Architecture Studios to look at addressing space needs at the county administration building in Montesano.

“We’re trying to become more customer friendly,” said Ross. 

Thomas Architecture Studios will conduct a “space needs assessment on the second floor of the building, for the potential project of transitioning the Auditor’s Office (from the first floor) to the second floor. This move would be intended to streamline business with the public by having all three offices (Assessor, Auditor, Treasurer) all together on one floor,” according to the request.