County delays decision about jail siting
Published 1:30 am Friday, May 15, 2026
Island County officials’ jail plans are serving a little extra time.
During a workshop meeting earlier this month, Island County commissioners decided to push the pause button on plans to move ahead with choosing the current site of the county jail in Coupeville as the location for a new-and-improved jail, which officials are calling the “corrections rehabilitation center.”
Over the last couple of months, the county has held community meetings throughout the county to gauge public input on three potential locations for a new jail. Along with the current site in the county annex building on Northeast Sixth Street in Coupeville, the officials also considered county-owned properties on Northwest First Street in the town and on Ault Field Road in Oak Harbor.
The commissioners’ meeting packet contained a resolution to move forward with building the facility on the current site — which would involve razing and rebuilding — but officials rethought the action at the last minute. Facilities Director Mark Sibon asked and received permission from the commissioners to conduct due diligence analysis — utility, design, geotechnical and soil bearing reviews — on the sites before moving forward with the choice.
Commissioner Jill Johnson agreed with the idea of taking a deeper dive before moving forward. She explained that the overwhelming majority of community members and stakeholders prefer the idea of building on the current site, largely because of its proximity to the courthouse. She said the county will eventually build offices on the First Street property, but it’s not right for the jail. The Ault Field property still has advantages — like being large, which means the building wouldn’t have to be multi-stories — but it is miles away from the jail and has potentially political complications, she said.
Formal cost estimates for the facility are still a long ways off, but a consultant cited a $100 million figure during the meeting.
Commissioners haven’t decided how to fund the project, but they discussed possibly going to the voters next year. Commissioner Melanie Bacon said the people she heard from support a sales tax because of all the recent increases in property taxes, plus they like the idea of visitors helping to pay for the building.
Johnson, however, said she opposed to a sales tax increase because it’s the most regressive kind of tax. She said many of the people who own the most expensive properties don’t live on the island full time and don’t go out into the community and spend money. A sales tax increase, she said, would be tax break for them.
Commissioner Janet St. Clair said she hasn’t studied the issue yet.
During the discussion, Bacon said that she’s heard two main reasons that people support the construction of a new jail. First of all, the current 58-bed facility is too small, which means police sometimes don’t pursue people wanted on misdemeanor warrants because space constraints prevent them from being booked.
Secondly, she said, a large percentage of people like the idea of expanding mental health and substance abuse treatment in the jail to “get at the root problems.”
Jose Briones, chief jail administrator, spoke about the improvements made at the jail in the law five or so years. The focus on programs promoting pro-social behavior access and access to treatment for mental health and substance abuse has succeeded on many levels, he said. Compared to other jails in the state, Island County’s facility has among the fewest number of negative incidents, including the use of force.
Still, Briones said the jail simply isn’t big enough to host all of the programs he and others would like to have, which is one of the myriad reasons the county needs a new jail.
