Inmate focus groups identify design and service priorities for Whatcom County jail and behavioral care center

Whatcom County staff and committee members ran two inmate focus groups on May 6 at the Work Center to inform a forthcoming survey of the entire jail population and to gather user perspectives for the planned behavioral care center (BCC) and jail design.

The purpose: The small-group sessions — 11 participants total — were intended to refine survey questions and test a “wish list” of design and service elements that project staff and consultants have identified for future facilities.

Key findings

- Repeated priorities. Participants repeatedly raised features the county’s wish list also includes: access to natural light, color and less institutional design, outdoor air and recreation space, and opportunities to develop daily living skills such as cooking, laundry and job training. Those items were raised frequently across both sessions.

- Group dynamics over unit size. Several participants stressed that who is housed together and the social dynamics within a living unit matter more than the strict number of people per cell. Participants said they would prefer a way to request a room change if dynamics were harmful and advocated for spaces to remove people in crisis out of general population into specially staffed safe areas (not long lockdowns).

- Services, transitions and reentry. Fast access to behavioral-health and substance-use treatment at points of transition — intake, in-custody care, and release — was seen as essential. Several participants asked that “reentry planning” begin at intake and suggested a supportive “halfway house” as a final step before full release to improve outcomes.

- Autonomy and dignity. Participants asked for more opportunities to exercise autonomy (gardening and cooking, improved commissary access, and class-based privileges tied to programming) and said such options would improve behavior and morale.

- Visitation and communication. Maintaining family and community ties was a recurring theme; participants recommended technologies and visiting policies that make it easier to maintain contact with loved ones.

Method and next steps

The groups were facilitated by county staff; participants were recruited by deputies as volunteers judged able to contribute constructively. Attendees viewed a short video of a trauma-informed facility, received the focus-group questions in advance, and commented on what they had seen and what they would add. Staff said notes from the sessions will be used to refine a survey to be administered to the broader jail population.

Representative comments (attributed to focus-group participants):

- “I’d rather go to prison today…I’m okay with that because I would rather do my time there because of better services and better amenities,” one participant said when comparing conditions in local custody to state facilities.

- Participants also described the value of vocational training, peer support and sponsors in the community as part of successful reentry plans.

Caveats

The focus groups were small (11 participants) and recruited by deputies; results are qualitative and intended to inform a broader survey. Staff told the committee they will use the groups’ feedback to improve questions before surveying the full jail population.

Why it matters

Design features and service access inside custody can affect mental-health outcomes, in-custody behavior and success after release. Committee members said the focus-group findings will help refine survey instruments and inform the behavioral care center’s programming and facility design decisions.

Ending: County staff will incorporate these findings into a jail-population survey and bring refined survey instruments to the committee for review ahead of broader data collection.