Today I commit King County to converting the remaining youth detention units at the CFJC to other uses as quickly as possible, and no later than 2025.

I will also be proposing additional investments to help create healthy and community-based solutions that address the needs of youth & families in King County.

The CFJC detention wing replaced an old, decrepit, 212-bed building that was unsafe & inhumane. It was built as a part of our larger aspirational goal of a safer, more restorative alternative for every youth.

Phasing out centralized youth detention is no longer a goal in the far distance. We have made extraordinary progress and we have evolved to believe that even more can be done.

The COVID crisis has shown that things once deemed impossible are now possible, and we are challenging ourselves and the entire community to keep to that path.

Then, in the midst of this public health crisis and economic upheaval, the nation was jarred by the vicious, state-sponsored murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

America is now reconciling the genuine aspirations born of the enlightenment - liberty & equality - with a history steeped in oppression and violence.

Redemption begins by shifting public dollars away from systems that are rooted in oppression and into those that maintain public health and safety, and help people on a path to success.