NAMI Whatcom Opposes Prop 2015-1

NAMI Whatcom Opposes Prop 2015-1NAMI Whatcom has joined the burgeoning crowd of citizens and organizations coming to realize that Proposition 2015-1 and the jail proposal it is designed to support could create a potentially disastrous situation for taxpayers and persons in crisis from mental health circumstances or because of addiction. They introduce their statement here. Their official statement is available here.

They “…join with the Bellingham Police Guild in declaring that 'this community is in dire need of a secure, safe mental health facility' and 'ask our community to reject Prop. 2015-1, the jail tax.'" The Police Guild complained that money from an earlier tax "was squandered on other things" and point out that the same language is included in this measure.

NAMI says “Jail is not an appropriate service for those living with persistent, mental illnesses or chronic addictions.” Unfortunately these are the very people the administration is using to keep the jail stuffed in an effort to justify an oversized jail.

They “ask the county to use the 2004 tax exclusively for the jail, and the 2008 behavioral health tax for preventative services that will divert people from jail, rendering a jail of the proposed magnitude unnecessary.”

They conclude that “too many of our families, friends and neighbors” remain in crisis and ask that we put “our money into concrete blocks of preventative care, rather than concrete blocks to build a 521 bed jail.”

This fiasco - in which it appears a cabal of special interests intend to build a jail too large for Whatcom County, but just right for the private prison industry - has spurred a lot of activity here at NWCitizen. Several articles were posted in our editor’s blog, where comments are not accepted, for which I have had numerous complaints. So here for your reading and commenting pleasure, is a recap in reverse chronological order befitting a blog. The most recent, “Jail Deal - Call for Investigation” is a great synopsis and the kind of thing that will amaze many who have not followed closely. Hopefully it will find some legs and continue to have an effect even after the election, because I assure you these guys are not going to stop trying.

I encourage citizens to step in immediately to promote this call for spilling a little daylight on a process that has gone on for years, always with the preconceived notion of a big, flat, remote jail out of view in the darkest hole between Bellingham and Ferndale.

OK, there are even a few more you can find by seaching 'jail' on the site, but this is enough for starters! So if you've wanted to add your two bits, now's the time. And then go vote, NO on 2015-1.

Jail Deal - Call for Investigation

Info Slowmo

The Mysterious State of the Whatcom County Jail

Louws Regrets Jail Mailer

Let’s not squander the next 30 years

Making a Jail: Bamboozle!

Bellingham Police Guild: Vote No on Jail

Jail Facts Successfully Avoided

The Making of a Jail Crisis: Part Three - Inhumane Outlouws

The Making of a Jail Crisis, Part Two - Stuff it!

The Making of a Jail Crisis, Part One - Wreck it!

Just Say No - to the Incarceration-Industrial Complex