Vancouver, Wash. – In its last meeting today, the Clark County Correction Facility Advisory Commission, CFAC, approved a final report that will be presented to the Clark County Council at a work session in September. The commission approved the report after making some amendments during the meeting.

CFAC is the volunteer advisory commission tasked with evaluating options to replace the county jail. The commission is a diverse group of representatives from law and justice, community services, social services, neighborhoods, cities, business and labor. The commission has been working on the topic of the jail for almost 18 months.

“The outcome CFAC arrived at sets the county council up to lead our community in a constructive direction,” said commission chair Craig Pridemore. “We have engaged in this process in a spirit of cooperation, and I think we are well-positioned to continue taking positive steps to address our community’s vital public safety facility needs.”

As stated in the draft report, CFAC members concluded that “an improved jail solution for Clark County is plainly necessary.”

In the report, the group acknowledges that the preferred jail improvement approach may be cost prohibitive. The report says that “CFAC’s preferred approach should serve as a best practice model with the understanding that the county council will consider options and develop a strategy to implement the approach in a financially feasible manner, retaining as much of CFAC’s original intent as possible.”

At the September work session, councilors and county staff will discuss the next steps of the jail evaluation process.

For more information, go to www.clark.wa.gov/councilors/correction-facility-advisory-commission.

CONTACT
Marlia Jenkins
Administrative Services manager
564.397.4405
marlia.jenkins@clark.wa.gov