Yakama Nation focuses on rehabilitation with detention center

Thursday, May 17, 2012  

The Yakama Nation of Washington dedicated its $12 million detention center on Wednesday.

The 38,000-square-foot Yakama Nation Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility comes with 114 beds. The tribe hopes it will be a place where inmates can learn how to re-enter society.

"It's as much a rehabilitation center and that's our hope, to rehabilitate the individuals that come through here," Chairman Harry Smiskin said at the dedication, The Yakima Herald-Republic reported. "For the good of our society, for the good of our people."

The center replaces an old jail that was shut down in 2005 after it was deemed unsafe. One inmate committed suicide there and a juvenile inmate attempted suicide just a few months before it was closed.

Get the Story:
Yakama Nation opens $12 million, state-of-the-art jail (The Yakima Herald-Republic 5/17)
Yakama Nation opens new jail in Toppenish (KNDO-TV 5/16)
Yakama Nation Opens New Tribal Jail (KAPP-TV 5/16)