Downtown’s King County Correctional Facility (Image: King County)
According to a command report, a jump in “medical declines” at the King County Jail last weekend depleted police resources in the East Precinct, leaving officers sidelined to guard suspects at Harborview Medical Center.
The bottleneck reportedly began Friday night when a man arrested for kicking in an apartment door was refused booking. The resulting hospital guard persisted through a busy Friday night and into Saturday morning, according to the precinct report.
On Saturday, the trend continued after a suspect arrested on Broadway with a stolen firearm was declined despite being physically capable of fleeing from police earlier that night.
The SPD report says the situation escalated Sunday following three arrests involving felony warrants for vehicle theft, narcotics, and organized retail theft. Despite all three suspects being alert and ambulatory, jail staff issued medical declines for the group. In one instance, a suspect was declined twice; in another, jail staff reportedly repeatedly questioned a suspect on his drug consumption until a declinable condition was established.
“All three of these were declined, with one declined twice, and the other after being asked multiple times at KCJ if he was sure he smoked drugs and didn’t swallow them,” the report reads. “As of writing, all of the alert/conscious/ambulatory suspects are on guard at HMC, using a significant portion of police resources.”
Under King County Jail’s Health Services policy, the facility may refuse to book individuals who have medical or psychiatric needs that exceed the jail’s internal care capabilities. This “medical decline” protocol requires arresting officers to transport suspects to a hospital for a “Fit for Jail” clearance. Designed to ensure inmate safety, the policy can add significantly to the process of booking a suspect.
It is not clear if last weekend’s totals were higher than normal or part of longer trends. A spokesperson for SPD said they did not have immediate totals for recent medical declines.
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