Coronavirus is giving small-time offenders ‘get out of jail free’ cards

Many suspects in jail-worthy crimes are getting off with a mere slap on the wrist due to COVID-19, Gig Harbor Police Chief Kelly Busey said recently.

Because of the fear of the virus spreading in tightly-packed spaces, both the Pierce and Kitsap County jails are refusing to accept all but the most serious offenders. Criminals are starting to catch on, Busey said.

“The suspects are learning this,” Busey said. “They are telling our officers ‘We know we aren’t going to jail because of COVID.’ ”

The jail draw-down began in April, when Gov. Jay Inslee issued an order to reduce the prison population in all Washington counties due to the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic.

Busey said Gig Harbor Police have had to let people go who have stolen vehicles, had a large amount of drugs on them, or had stolen items up worth up to a thousand dollars.

Some may never do time

Some of these crimes will be prosecuted after the pandemic winds down, but many may never face charges, Busey said.

“There will be a massive backlog of cases to be charged,” Busey said. “My fear is when we finally address this massive backlog, they will not charge some of the lesser crimes that would have been charged in ordinary times.”

Ione George, chief of staff at the Kitsap County prosecutors’ office, said they would get to every case on the backlog.

“We certainly would not just not get to something,” George said. “We address everything that comes to us. We carefully staffed and are addressing everything we can. We are getting to and dealing with all of our cases, and they are all getting process, but it’s just a matter of bringing them into trail or not.

“It will just take longer than we’ve seen in the past,” she added. “But we won’t miss it, it will just take longer to get to the end result.”

Busey said suspects arrested in Gig Harbor are usually sent to the Kitsap County jail for misdemeanors and Pierce County jail for felonies.

Only the worst

Neither the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office or the Pierce County responded to requests for comment. Pierce County Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer e-mailed a fact sheet from the county jail, without elaboration.

The fact sheet, prepared for local police departments, says booking in the Pierce County Jail is limited to mandatory misdemeanor and felony arrests, including Class A felonies or felony violent crimes against a person. Arrests on outstanding warrants are now limited to crimes such as murder, homicide by abuse, kidnapping, rape and other more serious crimes.

Jails are generally not accepting suspects in Class B felonies, which include second-degree manslaughter, auto theft, theft or possession of a stolen gun, burglary and stalking in violation of a restraining order.

Even further down the pecking order are Class C felonies, such as theft of property up to $1,500, and minor kinds of assault, including domestic violence; and misdemeanors, including petty theft, disorderly conduct, trespassing and vandalism.

Officers who have arrested people in these kinds of minor crimes are giving them court warrants — essentially tickets — and requiring them to sign a promise to show up for a court date. Failure to appear for a court date can technically lead to an arrest warrant, but in a Catch-22, arrests on so-called “failure to appear” warrants are among those jails are currently not accepting.

Kitsap similar

Scott Wilson, a Kitsap County Sheriff’s spokesman, said Kitsap Jail’s population was reduced to 147 inmates in April, but has since grown to 243 inmates. The maximum the jail can hold being 400.

“The average daily population last year was 374 inmates in the Kitsap county jail, both male and female. The average this year after the restrictions is 210,” Wilson said.

Kitsap jail has a self-contained housing unit with individual cells.

“You can’t contact someone in between the cells, they aren’t like sliding bars, it’s a totally contained unit,” Wilson said. “This is the isolation quarantine unit with the idea if an inmate showed symptoms, we would get them away from people and into that location.”

He said the Kitsap County Jail will book and hold arrested persons for all felony level crimes — both arrest warrants and probable cause arrests; felony drug charges, any domestic violence offense or DV related crime, including violation of no contact orders, and all driving under influence arrests with bail.

The Kitsap jail also accepts any misdemeanor DV assault arrest warrants and any warrant that states “Must Post Bail;” certain kinds of parole and escape from custody warrants.

Probation violation warrants are limited to sex offenses, and bail bond surrenders only on local cases.

Out of county warrants — which includes Gig Harbor — are accepted only for felonies, or misdemeanors connected to domestic violence.

Many reoffend

Busey said he understands why it is essential COVID does not get into a jail or prison.

“That would shut down a whole jail if COVID got in. And,” he added. “It’s our constitutional obligation to protect the safety of people, even if they are in our custody.”

Still, Busey said this is worrying for the police department.

“Yes, we are concerned,” Busey said. “We understand the necessity to keep the jails safe and virus free, but I worry as more suspects learn they won’t immediately be held accountable, they will become more emboldened. I also worry our system is not set up to catch up to some of the cases being differed.”

“A lot of them are now reoffending,” Busey said.

During the pandemic, Busey said, Gig Harbor has seen more domestic disputes and vehicle prowls. Shoplifting did decrease due to stores being closed down, but Busey said these are rising once again.

This story was originally published September 30, 2020 at 5:30 AM.