Shoreline will send prisoners to the new Lynnwood Jail
Shoreline police will be able to send prisoners to the new Lynnwood Jail. Currently, most are imprisoned at the notorious SCORE jail in South King County.
When someone arrested by Shoreline police is waiting for their initial court appearance or is serving short-term misdemeanor sentences, they are usually sent to the South Correctional Entity (SCORE) Jail in Des Moines.
According to recent reporting by PubliCola, eleven people have died in custody at SCORE jail in the past two years, a rate significantly higher than the national average.
At the Monday, October 27 meeting, the Shoreline city council approved a contract with the city of Lynnwood for jail services. Shoreline police will be able to send inmates to the Lynnwood jail in addition to the SCORE jail.
A round trip to the SCORE jail is nearly 60 miles from Shoreline and takes well over an hour by car. It often takes four hours for the police to drive down and back to SCORE to complete a jail booking.
Located a short distance from the Lynnwood Transit Center, the new jail is part of the Lynnwood Community Justice Center Project, which also includes the police department, court, and a mental health facility.
Shoreline’s jail costs have skyrocketed as the number of individuals jailed and the length of time they are being incarcerated has increased since historic lows in 2021.
The city says the number of “Daily Jail Beds Used” has more than tripled from 2,132 in 2021 to 6,575 in 2024.
Jail spending has increased from $586,363 in 2021 to $1.35 million in 2024. Shoreline’s 2025-2026 jail budget is about $2.7 million.
According to reporting by the Everett Herald, the Lynnwood jail has faced protests and cost overruns.
Construction for the jail began in 2021 and opened in 2024. Originally planned to hold 120 prisoners, the jail was scaled back to a capacity of 84 after an inmate died by suicide after her arrest for suspicion of DUI. An independent investigation found officers had left her alone in violation of Lynnwood police policies.
Amidst protests, the city scaled back the size of the jail and added a mental health wing, which is physically ready but vacant because the city has struggled to find an operator and funding. The city recently found an operator and expects to begin operation in early 2026.
Decades ago, the city of Shoreline sent prisoners exclusively to the King County Jail, but that facility began to run out of space in 2002. Since then, the city has paid to send prisoners to jails in other municipalities such as Yakima and Issaquah.
A 2008 plan to build a new jail at the Aldercrest site in the Ballinger neighborhood failed after opposition from residents.
In 2014, the South Correctional Entity (SCORE) jail in South King County became Shoreline’s primary jail and booking facility. Shoreline currently sends 98% of its prisoners to SCORE.
The 2008 "plan" for a jail was not a plan per se. Each city was strong armed by Seattle to name potential jail sites (in secret) if they wanted to be part of the regional solution. The selection of Aldercrest violated just about every national guideline that exists for siting of regional detention facilities. Proximity to multiple schools, places of worship and residential zoning were all contrary to those guidelines. The neighborhood rallied to point out this farce, even as we recognized that jails are needed. Why not smaller jails in each community to keep families closer to their loved ones? Too expensive, apparently.
Thank you for this information.