Clark County councilors take first steps in jail expansion project, citing ‘dire need’

The project team with KMB Architects walked councilors through two proposals Wednesday — one that would largely renovate the existing facility and another that would also expand it to encompass a larger footprint at the current downtown Vancouver location.

While the smaller renovation project comes with a smaller price tag — an estimated $330 million compared with the roughly $472 million for an expansion — and would be completed about a year sooner than the expansion project, county officials said it would likely mean more work a few years down the road.

“I think it behooves us to put forward what we believe is the real need,” Council Chair Sue Marshall said. “There’s been multiple attempts at this that have somehow stalled at the last minute, and I think all along we felt we’ve got one shot at this and we need to make the most of it. I would be for doing the full build-out, because I think that’s what we need.”

The expansion project would add 192 beds to the jail’s general population, along with about 250 specialized beds for mental health and medical needs. Combined with 64 beds added through an expansion project at the Jail Work Center on Lower River Road, the architect team said the project would bring the jail’s capacity to 931 beds.

The team presented a timeline beginning in November with the design and funding phase. Construction would begin in January 2028 and would happen in phases to keep the jail operational until the work is completed around June 2032. County officials said they’d also use the work center for housing during construction.

Jail Director David Shook told councilors the jail has been in a red status — meaning it was only accepting bookings for people accused of higher-level, violent crimes — since October. In 2024, jail staff were projected to have booked roughly 2,000 more people than in 2022. Emery said that number increased despite the county opting out of some programs, including an extradition network that previously accounted for about 1,000 bookings a year and a partnership with the state Department of Corrections that also typically made up about 1,000 bookings.

Councilor Matt Little said he recently toured the jail and saw the “dire need.”

“Even though it’s run very well, it’s a space that’s not conducive to healing or treatment,” Little said. “It feels claustrophobic. It needs work. It’s an emergency.”

The county’s finance team reviewed potential funding options Wednesday; most are tax measures that would require voter approval. The councilors largely agreed the massive project would require a combination of funding sources. Councilors directed the finance team to come back with specific funding suggestions for the full expansion project.

Councilor Wil Fuentes said the larger project is worthwhile for the county’s future.

“I was convinced, you know, when you informed us that this needed to have been done 10 years ago, and we’re going to grow a heck of a lot over the next couple of decades,” Fuentes said. “And so this needs to get done sooner than later.”