Jail Problems in Klickitat County 'neglect if not negligence'

To the Editor,

I just read the Oregon Public Broadcasting story, "A Klickitat County inmate’s deteriorating health raises new concerns about jail." I was surprised at some of the rationales cited by the Klickitat County Sheriff's Office for what appears to be neglect if not negligence.

First, under RCW 70.48.130 medical care for inmates is always to be provided, and if the patient has no insurance coverage of their own, will be paid for by the "governing unit" - Klickitat County.

Second, blaming the problem on a "staffing shortage," and that Washington State is responsible for this staffing problem seems strange, as local county governments are usually responsible for funding of county jails.

The OPB story indicates the current jail staffing ratio is about two jailers to 30 inmates. Blaming this incident on a staffing shortage appears to be saying we don't check on inmates as frequently as we should because of staffing: 15 inmates per jailer, and an 8-, 10-, or 12-hour shift. A 5-minute check per inmate per jailer totals 1 hour and 15 minutes. The alleged budget-created problems for lack of staffing and access to medical professionals in-house also appears to come from Klickitat County as well - not the state.

School teachers would love to have this 1:15 ratio of teachers to students. Additionally, poor prison staffing is a nationwide issue. For federal prisons, staffing appears to be in the similar range of about 1:15 for minimum- to medium-security inmates. It doesn't seem very likely that the Klickitat Co. jail houses many medium- to high-security inmates.

Third, the unavailability of sufficient Washington State Corrections Officer Academy training positions seems irrelevant, since it apparently includes no medical training. So how would that have made a difference? This rationale appears to be a "Constitutional Sheriff" excuse to blame everything in the universe on the state and/or federal government.

It doesn't sound like the jailed person's medical condition suddenly deteriorated overnight. And irrespective of staffing it appears obvious that if an inmate has insect infestations and possible life-threatening septic shock, and was checked on at all during the course of a shift, their poor physical and medical condition would have been evident prior to this person's ER visit.

If there is any question as to an inmate's medical condition, medical consultation, or evaluation by an EMS provider should probably have been requested significantly earlier. But apparently the Sheriff's Office would rather blame this on a "staffing shortage" and "lack of training," which is Washington State's fault.

Apparently, no functional protocol, policy, or procedure may exist for these circumstances. As the story indicates, Klickitat County's jail has no Washington Law Enforcement Accreditation.

-Robert Yoesle