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Whatcom County task force adopts bimonthly schedule and discusses diversion programs, jail health consolidation
Summary
The Legal & Justice Systems Committee voted to hold meetings once every two months (fourth Friday, 11 a.m.–noon) and spent the session reviewing diversion plans, a consolidation of jail health contracts under CHP Health Care Partners and a forthcoming WASPC LEMAP assessment; members flagged data and transition concerns.
The Legal & Justice Systems Committee of the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force voted on Jan. 13 to change its regular meetings from monthly to bimonthly and discussed plans for expanding diversion programs, consolidating jail health services and preparing for a WASPC LEMAP assessment.
The committee voted unanimously to move its meeting frequency to once every two months and to try meeting on the fourth Friday from 11 a.m. to noon. Eric Ritchie made the initial motion to adopt a bimonthly schedule; the motion was seconded earlier in the meeting and carried once a quorum was present.
Diversion programs took up much of the committee's substantive discussion. Committee members described ongoing work to implement direct diversion for some lower-level felonies into municipal court and to develop diversion options for people with substance-use and mental-health conditions. Participants said beds and Health Department partnerships exist to support some diversions, and the LEAD program will monitor outcomes for direct-diversion cases.
"We're developing diversions right now," a county prosecutor and program lead said, explaining the…
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