Shut Down the Deadly
King County Jail
DEADLY JAIL
In April 2022, King County released a press release stating that a 63-year-old man was found unresponsive in his cell minutes after being booked.
It wasn’t until December 2022 that the truth emerged, with two Seattle Times reporters uncovering the facts about Michael Rowland’s killing at the hands of King county Jail guards.
He was killed during a mental health crisis in the same position as George Floyd by SPD officers and then King County Jail guards who restrained him by kneeling on his back.
Mr. Rowland’s homicide is only the most recent death in a jail that has become one of the deadliest facilities in the country. This death is the last straw - it’s time to shut down the King County Jail.
In April of 2022 Michael Rowland, a 63-year old long-time resident of Seattle who was experiencing a mental health crisis, died when he was restrained by King County Jail staff minutes after he was booked.
This killing of a Black man was only the most recent death in a jail that has become one of the deadliest facilities in the country.
OUR CENTRAL DEMAND:
SHUT DOWN THE KING COUNTY JAIL
PERMANENTLY AS DOW PROMISED
KING COUNTY: ONE OF THE DEADLIEST JAILS IN THE NATION
All nine deaths in the King County jail system since 2020 have occurred in the downtown Seattle jail.
“Completed in 1986, the King County Correctional Center is decrepit and expensive to operate, and its physical layout does not lend itself to behavioral health and other care.
In fact, it was one of the last jails built on this model, and every day we pay the price for its outdated design.
We must reimagine King County’s downtown Seattle campus in light of the realities of today. And the old jail must at some point come down. As we prepare the budget later this year, I intend to propose a phased closing of the King County Correctional Center after the pandemic.”
— Dow Constantine, 2020 State of the County Address
IN 2020 KING COUNTY EXECUTIVE PROMISED TO SHUT DOWN THE KING COUNTY JAIL
OUR CENTRAL DEMAND:
SHUT DOWN THE KING COUNTY JAIL PERMANENTLY AS DOW PROMISED
In response to Michael Rowland’s homicide and the record number of suicides in the jail, we call for County and City officials to take these three immediate steps towards emptying the jail:
THESE DEMANDS MUST BE MET THROUGH DECARCERATION, NOT BY TRANSFERRING PEOPLE TO OTHER CAGES.
THESE DEMANDS MUST BE MET THROUGH DECARCERATION, NOT BY TRANSFERRING PEOPLE TO OTHER CAGES.
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Target: King County Executive Dow Constantine
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Target: City mayors and police chiefs and sheriffs
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Target: Judges and Prosecutors
THESE DEMANDS MUST BE MET THROUGH DECARCERATION, NOT BY TRANSFERRING PEOPLE TO OTHER CAGES.
THESE DEMANDS MUST BE MET THROUGH DECARCERATION, NOT BY TRANSFERRING PEOPLE TO OTHER CAGES.
THESE DEMANDS MUST BE MET THROUGH DECARCERATION, NOT BY TRANSFERRING PEOPLE TO OTHER CAGES.
THESE DEMANDS MUST BE MET THROUGH DECARCERATION, NOT BY TRANSFERRING PEOPLE TO OTHER CAGES.
JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL ROLAND = PERMANENTLY CLOSING THE DEADLY KING COUNTY JAIL.
JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL ROLAND = PERMANENTLY CLOSING THE DEADLY KING COUNTY JAIL.
JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL ROLAND = PERMANENTLY CLOSING THE DEADLY KING COUNTY JAIL.
JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL ROLAND = PERMANENTLY CLOSING THE DEADLY KING COUNTY JAIL.
JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL ROLAND = PERMANENTLY CLOSING THE DEADLY KING COUNTY JAIL.
JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL ROLAND = PERMANENTLY CLOSING THE DEADLY KING COUNTY JAIL.
THE DEADLY JAIL
The conditions in Seattle's King County Jail are horrific and life-threatening for human beings, who are predominantly poor and unhoused and disproportionately Black. The hundreds of millions spent on arresting, prosecuting, and jailing King County residents could instead be spent on supporting people in crisis by meeting basic needs like housing and health care. Even the King County Executive has admitted that the jail is a disaster; in his July 2020 State of the County speech, Dow Constantine pledged to close the jail. The jail is “decrepit and expensive to operate,” he said, and the money we spend on it “could be better spent to promote opportunity and human potential.” We agree!
