Chelan weighs pay-per-use jail contract

CHELAN — Chelan could soon begin paying for jail services based on the number of inmates it houses each month rather than a fixed annual average under a proposed one-year contract aimed at better reflecting actual use of the Chelan County Regional Justice Center.

The proposal, presented to Chelan City Council on Tuesday, would charge the city $213 per occupied bed per day beginning in 2027, replacing the current system of fixed monthly payments based on historical inmate populations.

No action was taken. City Administrator Laura McAloon said the proposed agreement was received only recently and remains under review by the city's attorney before returning to council for consideration.

Regional Justice Center Director Chris Sharp said the new billing model was developed after the county evaluated several alternatives following changes in jail populations brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, state criminal justice reforms and shifting booking patterns.

Rather than paying the same amount each month regardless of use, cities would receive monthly invoices based on the actual number of bed days used by their inmates.

Using Chelan's first six months of 2026 as an example, Sharp said the city would have paid about $58,149 under the proposed system, compared with approximately $77,000 under its current fixed-payment arrangement.

Sharp said the county opted against charging municipalities a flat "base fee" simply to maintain jail availability, instead choosing a one-year pilot contract to evaluate whether the pay-as-you-go model adequately supports operations.

Much of Sharp's presentation focused on the increasing medical and operational demands facing correctional staff, particularly as fentanyl has become increasingly common among incoming inmates.

He said roughly 70% of people booked into the jail arrive using fentanyl and often require placement in medical observation cells while they detox. The jail has installed 66 medical sensors that monitor inmates' heart rates and breathing, expanded camera coverage throughout the facility, hired round-the-clock nursing staff and deployed updated monitoring software designed to alert officers within minutes if an inmate shows signs of medical distress.

Sharp said jail staff have administered Narcan approximately 30 times during the past 18 months and recently used five doses to revive an inmate who had overdosed.

Sharp also addressed the April fentanyl overdose death of an inmate who had been incarcerated at the Regional Justice Center continuously since January, saying the jail had "done nothing wrong" and arguing the death resulted from an inmate who smuggled drugs into the facility and chose to use them. He said the Wenatchee Police Department investigated the incident and that the county would again face the legal claims process that follows an in-custody death.

The circumstances surrounding the April death remain under investigation, however, and Chelan County has not publicly released the findings of the required fatality review.

Sharp's remarks leave unanswered how an inmate who had been in the facility for 3 months was able to obtain a fatal dose of fentanyl despite the safeguards he described, including mail screening, a drug-detecting K-9, body scanners, medical sensors and specialized observation cells where many fentanyl users spend "23 hours a day" during detox.

Sharp urged local officials to support changes to state law limiting liability awards in in-custody death cases, arguing that repeated settlements drive up insurance costs for local governments. He said the jail's insurance premiums have doubled (from $400,000 per year to $800,000) following previous settlements despite the county maintaining it acted appropriately in those cases. He said the jail has now incorporated those increased insurance prices into its costs.

“We had two lawsuits from 2021. We did nothing wrong. People died in the jail, and our…district will settle those lawsuits just because they don't want to take anything to trial because they're worried that a jury will award an astronomical amount,” he said.

“We need a cap. We can't have an open candy store because your 30-year relative was a drug addict,” Sharp said, adding, “It shouldn’t be our fault.”

Council members asked questions about inmate billing, booking procedures and how the proposed contract would affect the city's costs before the agreement returns for formal consideration after legal review.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media