The local jail in Pacific County, Washington, will no longer be run by the elected sheriff.

County officials on Thursday agreed to start the process of creating a new jail services department. The new department will ultimately answer to the Board of Commissioners — not Sheriff Daniel Garcia.

The commissioners said they had grown concerned about the jail as a legal risk, particularly after the county recently paid out millions of dollars to settle a wrongful death lawsuit of an inmate.

They also acknowledged they have had a tense relationship with Garcia, a first-term sheriff who has made headlines by publicly butting heads with the elected commissioners who control his office’s budget.

After hours of public testimony, mostly from supporters of Garcia who advocated for him to keep control of the jail, the commissioners went ahead and approved creating the new department.

“I understand that the right decision is not always the popular or easy decision to make, but oftentimes it is necessary to make in order to do what is right under the totality of the circumstances,” said Commissioner David Tobin.

Commissioners Tobin, Lisa Olsen and Jerry Doyle unanimously agreed on the move.

Pacific County will now embark on something that several Southwest Washington counties have done in recent years: creating an entirely new department to oversee the jail. Sheriffs in Walla Walla, Benton, Clark and Klickitat counties have all divorced their local sheriffs from jail operations in recent years.

Pacific County Administrative Officero Paul Plakinger, the county’s top employee who directly reports to the commissioners, kicked off the meeting with a lengthy statement. He recommended that commissioners offer a severance package to the current jail director who reports to Garcia. He also advocated for hiring a new jail director in January.

Plakinger and county commissioners could not be reached for comment Thursday. It’s unclear if they plan to make those personnel moves. The agenda item approved only mentions creating the new county-led jail department.

Pacific County commissioners propose removing jail from sheriff oversight

The decision to split the jail came amid concerns about safety for people being held there, and the county’s potential risk for lawsuits.

Two inmates have died at the jail in the past two years. Crystal R. Greenler died Dec. 13, 2022; and the county this year agreed to pay $2.9 million to settle her estate’s wrongful death claim. Garcia took office roughly a month after Greenler’s death.

This past October, Curtis S. Kirschbaum died at the jail. County officials on Thursday said they were frustrated that Kirschbaum’s death was not independently investigated, but rather Garcia’s office opted to keep the investigation in-house, according to the Chinook Observer.

Plakinger said in the meeting Thursday that the sheriff’s office has not shared any jail footage from the day of Kirschbaum’s death with the county’s risk management department. Garcia said at the meeting his staff was still working to supply the footage and planned to call an outside investigator.

“Risk management has effectively been kept in the dark regarding the status of the investigation,” Plakinger said. “The public must understand that multiple in-custody deaths, regardless of which sheriff was in office at the time of the incident, have a profound impact on the insurability of the government entity as a whole.”

A SW Washington sheriff pushes the limits of official powers while in training

At the meeting, Garcia said the jail had been neglected for decades and argued that his tense relationship with commissioners mainly comes down to the budget. He argued that many of his public disagreements with county officials have stemmed from his requests for more money to upgrade old equipment and facilities, as well as hire and train personnel.

“We’ve spent more than previous administrations, yes,” Garcia said. “We have. It costs money to do what we’re doing.” Garcia also thanked the county for recently working with him to secure a $1.3 million construction grant for the jail.

Garcia and others’ testimony lamented that creating a new jail department just creates “another layer of bureaucracy.”

Garcia could not be reached for comment Thursday.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2024/12/26/pacific-county-seize-jail-from-sheriff/