Conditions in county jails aren’t just bad for people suffering from mental illnesses. A small bag of freeze-dried coffee that costs $3.34 in state prison cost almost $13 in County. Phone calls to our loved ones, which cost just over a dollar for 20 minutes at a Washington State prison, cost nearly $4 from the county jail. We have to care about what’s happening in county jails if we are to make our communities safer. With positive changes, people confined in county jail could come out of their stays better equipped to thrive in their communities.

---