People are sometimes released from the Clark County Jail late at night or in the wee hours of the morning.
Most are eager to go, with a ride waiting to take them home to their own bed. But about 1 in 6 exit the jail doors and wander, sometimes reluctantly, into the darkness with nowhere to go.
“They’re just released in the middle of the night with no way of getting anywhere, no way of contacting anyone,” said Amber Cognata, a defense attorney with Vancouver Defenders who often represents people experiencing homelessness.
The problem isn’t unique to Clark County. Still, it’s one the area faces more often as its homeless population grows.
Attorneys and homeless service providers say they worry about vulnerable people with no home being released from jail, pointing to stories of elderly women and people with mental illness leaving jail alone at night.
The issue has partly motivated the creation of a $16 million homeless shelter that can take in newly released inmates.
Wouldn’t it be easier if the jail just didn’t release homeless people into the dark in the first place?
It might be. But the jail doesn’t have any control over that, Jail Services Director David Shook said.
“Those that are experiencing mental crisis and things like that, we would love to keep them until the daytime,” Shook said. “We just don’t have the space or the authority through the laws in the state to keep them inside the jail.”
Into the night
Most people are released from the Clark County Jail between 5 p.m. and midnight. But sometimes processing paperwork for release can go past midnight. Other times, people are arrested and released the same night.
From Jan. 1 to April 30, 55 people were released from jail between 1 and 5 a.m., according to jail staff. Eight of those people self-identified as homeless.
If homeless inmates are lucky, they’ll receive a donated tent or a bus pass. But the ones released at night, when no buses run, face the possibility of sleeping on the sidewalk.
Cognata recalls one client who was released from jail late in the evening with nowhere to go.
“He didn’t have shoes — just kind of had to wander around,” she said. “I think, thankfully, it was in the warmer part of the season, so he was able to sleep on the streets. But I am scared for when it gets cooler.”
Shook said jail staff do their best to connect people to resources, such as homeless services, and family, before release. “But, sometimes, it just doesn’t work out,” he said.
People can’t stay in the jail after their sentence is up, even if they request to do so for their safety, Shook said. There’s no space in cells and no respite room where people can stay.
Why not wait until daylight?
Defense attorney Katie Kauffman, also of Vancouver Defenders, said she often asks judges to not release vulnerable, homeless clients until daylight hours if she has concerns for their safety. So far, a judge has never denied this request, she said.
“Usually, it’s the people I’m most concerned about that have the mental health situation going on, where I’m like, ‘OK, maybe you’re going to be taken advantage of. You’re going to be taking something that you shouldn’t take.’”
It’s especially unsafe for women with nowhere to go to be released at night, she said.
Mitrice Richardson, 24, was released from jail in Los Angeles County, Calif., in 2009 just after midnight with no money, phone or car. Her body was found 11 months later, according to the LA Times.
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Ten years later, the Santa Rita, Calif., jail released 26-year-old Jessica St. Louis at 1:30 a.m. She was found four hours later, dead from an overdose, near a transit line that opened at 5 a.m.
The deaths motivated California lawmakers to pass a law requiring jails to allow those released from jail to stay until daylight hours if they choose and provide a safe place to wait for transportation. But the governor vetoed it, citing the cost to keep people longer in jail.
Washington has never considered such a law.
Shook said he’s spoken with court staff and the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office about what would happen if there were a requirement to allow people to stay until daylight hours when homelessness services are open.
“If there was such a law or such a capability to say, ‘Hey, by the way, you went to court today, and you’re going to be released tomorrow because you need those resources,’ I think that would be a decent way to be able to handle some of that,” Shook said.
“But right now, like I said, once the court says, ‘You need to release (this) person,’ we really have nothing else to say other than, ‘OK.’”
This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism, a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation. Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.
