A draft of the Justice Project Implementation Plan is available for review, and feedback can be submitted to [email protected]. Please submit your comments by June 11th for consideration by the County Executive and Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force (IPRTF) at their next meeting. Click here to view the draft Implementation Plan.
The IPRTF, acting as the Law and Justice Council (LJC), will meet on June 12th to review public input alongside the draft Implementation Plan, which includes 15 action items and proposes potential public health and safety facilities for three county-owned properties.
The draft Implementation Plan identifies strategies to make near-term improvements in systems, services, and facilities affecting people involved in the criminal legal system. The Plan also identifies lead organizations to bring ideas into action, planning level cost estimates, and funding sources or gaps in funding. The Plan’s 15 action items fall into the five following categories:
- Ensure oversight, accountability, and transparency
- Increase Access to behavioral health services,
- Build the array of facilities needed to promote public safety and health,
- Expand the capacity of programs to reduce incarceration/re-incarceration,
- Make systems changes with local, regional, and state partners, and
The County Executive is leading the development of the Implementation Plan with guidance from the IPRTF/LIC. A series of workshops, held as Special Meetings of the IPRTF/LJC, were held in March and April to develop elements of the Plan, including a draft project list. Focus groups were held in April and May to get feedback on elements of the draft Plan from priority audiences, including BIPOC communities and people with lived experience in the criminal legal system. A Town Hall Listening Session was held on May 24th to get feedback from the public on a revised draft project list.
More information is available at www.whatcomcounty.us/justice.