BELLINGHAM, Wash. — It will cost $1.8 million to replace two elevators that stopped working inside the Whatcom County jail last Friday, Sheriff Bill Elfo said.
Repairing them may not be an option.
"It's not a matter of when, it's if they can be fixed," said Elfo.
The Whatcom County jail is 38 years old and starting to show its age.
Elfo said without the elevators deputies would have to move inmates through stairwells or fire escape routes, neither of which is safe, in his opinion.
The sheriff also has other safety concerns.
"One of the fears I have now is that we have a medical emergency that requires CPR or some other advanced life support," said Elfo. "I don't know whether we're going to be able to get to them, or not."
Elfo has been pushing for a new jail for the better part of a decade.
The sheriff said the faulty elevators have trapped deputies with inmates in the past.
Outdated windows have been used to smuggle contraband into the jail.
At one point, doors that were supposed to be secured would pop open on their own.
Two years ago, the county paid $4 million to fix those doors.
"I think at this point we're kind of running out of time," said Elfo. "We need to accelerate this process or we're going to be throwing good money after bad to try to keep this functioning. Meantime, the safety of my deputies and the people they are responsible for is at risk."
Others don't share the sheriff's beliefs.
"I think this jail issue has been blown out of proportion again and again," said Joy Gilfilen.
Gilfilen has been an outspoken opponent of Sheriff Elfo for years. She unsucessfully ran replace him in 2019.
Gilfilen accused Elfo of overstating the need for a new jail.
"The bottom line is if you've got a jail and an elevator problem you don't build a new jail," she said. "This is mismanagement. It's a maintenance problem."
Twice over the past decade, Elfo has asked voters for the money to build a new jail. Twice they have rejected him.
Gilfilen said she believes there are better, cheaper alternatives.
"We can do rehabilitation. We can do community alternatives. There are all kinds of options that have not been heard of by this community," she says.
A 2016 study of the jail's elevators determined they had reached the end of their life span.
For now, the county is moving lower-risk inmates to another facility and stopping visitations at the jail indefinitely.