Dow ConstantineVerified account

Oliver says building a new $233M detention center flies in the face of our zero detention goal, when the current facility could be remodeled for $1M.

Aside: @kcexec was on #KUOWrecord yesterday discussing this issue.https://twitter.com/KUOW/status/986319159205117952 …

Nikkita Oliver cont'd: No one has said we need to close down the old facility. We're saying that building a new facility is investing $233M in a system we know doesn't work. A zero-detention county requires a public health approach.

Oliver: When Angela Davis was here she said in her keynote speech: If you build it, you will fill it.

Oliver: The county has written in its own report that the old youth detention facility can be useable. Our county is huge. We need to dislocate services from jails and courts and put them in young people's communities

Oliver: If we're willing to spend $233M on a new facility for the old method of punitive justice in Dr. Martin Luther King County, then we need to ask ourselves what we'll spend on restorative justice. King said there's no time like the present to do the right thing.

Oliver: We have to start moving resources into community-based resources. Every city in King County doesn't have same needs. What's going to stop young people from committing crimes or acts of violence? Stronger communities.