The Shackles of King County
An editorial plea for a new courthouse and jail to address the 'barbarous' conditions for prisoners, the insane, and the public.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Recognizing the miserable inefficiency of our county buildings, the commissioners, yesterday, decided to submit a proposition to build new court house, jail, and offices for the county. The plan is to issue bonds for $250,000, bearing interest at the rate of 5 per cent, payable after twenty and within thirty years. This proposition comes none too soon. Our present county buildings are shamefully inadequate. There is not sufficient room either in the clerk's or sheriff's office for the convenient transaction of business. There are no facilities for the storage and care of public records, and no room suitable for court purposes. Worse still are the arrangements for the confinement of county prisoners. The jail is old, small, and unwholesome. It is not a fit place for the confinement of human beings, and that its use is continued is a disgrace to King County. For the temporary care of insane persons there is no accommodation whatever, and such are from necessity confined precisely as are common criminals. This treatment of unfortunates, worthy of the horrors of barbarous ages, is the best that the sheriff under present circumstances can provide. It will be seen that many considerations of business and humanity combine to urge the necessity of better county buildings, and to these must be added one which we feel sure will have weight with the patriotic people of King County. We want a court house in keeping with the advancing wealth and dignity of the county, one that will reflect credit upon the public spirit, liberality and taste of this community.
“The jail is old, small, and unwholesome. It is not a fit place for the confinement of human beings, and that its use is continued is a disgrace to King County.”
The 1889 editorial highlights a century-old tension in Seattle: the perpetual struggle between rapid population growth and the state's capacity to provide adequate infrastructure and humane social services. While the 'modern' courthouse of 1889 eventually replaced the 'barbarous' jail, the city continues to grapple with the exact same debates regarding public bond measures, the treatment of the mentally ill within the justice system, and the recurring question of whether our buildings reflect our values.
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