Judge issues restraining order in Franklin County jail fight. Sheriff pushes back
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Franklin County Jail Conflict
The Franklin County Commission has created a corrections department, taking over the jail and courthouse security from Sheriff Jim Raymond.
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A Benton County District Court judge has issued a temporary restraining order in the fight over Franklin County commissioners taking the jail away from Sheriff Jim Raymond.
The order does not make a judgment in the case, but it orders Raymond not to take equipment from the jail and to return any equipment his office may have removed already.
But as of Friday morning, Raymond said in a news release that he was not served with a court order and would continue to collect the weapons to secure them inside his office’s armory.
Commissioners voted Wednesday to take control of the jail and courthouse security from the sheriff’s office.
Raymond said earlier this week that while he would cooperate with the commissioners, he wanted a court order when it came to control of the firearms, control of courtroom security and other key law enforcement systems that he is ultimately responsible for.
The county believes they have the necessary legal framework in place to manage the weapon and said they need them for the safety of jailers and the courthouse.
The order does not make a determination for that or any other questions, it just orders Raymond not to interfere in the handover of equipment that technically belonged to the sheriff’s office to the new corrections department.
He said he is not violating any court order because the weapons are property of the sheriff’s office, not the jail.
He also said that a county commissioner has been “inside the jail, mucking things up even further.” He didn’t identify which of the three commissioners or what he was referring to.
The county is legally responsible for paying for Raymond’s legal counsel since he is an elected official.
The Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office told the Tri-City Herald on Thursday that an attorney Raymond had been working with on another case was not available for this issue, so he did not immediately have representation.
A hearing on the issue is expected in about two weeks.
Restraining order
Because the sheriff’s office has always operated the jail in Franklin County, much of the equipment and management systems are shared with the law enforcement division, which Raymond believes makes him liable for all of it.
Raymond also believes that jailers and courtroom security carrying firearms falls under his commission from Washington state, and is concerned about handing off weapons to the new Franklin County Department of Corrections without a plan in place.
Raymond said in a news release Thursday that he still had not been presented with a transition plan by the commissioners.
Franklin County’s attorneys argue that while the commissioners created a new department and budget for the jail, it is still the same agency and they believe its accreditation remains in place.
The attorneys for the county acknowledged in their filing for the restraining order that the question over accreditation is a separate matter.
They also said the county is backing off on taking over courtroom security for now, which Raymond believes can only be altered by the Benton Franklin Superior Court.
The filing said the new courthouse complex security policy makes an exception in this case, though the resolution attached to their public agenda and the filings does not mention the exception.
It is unclear who will manage security in courtrooms, because those employees were previously corrections deputies which Raymond no longer has control over. Raymond wrote that he will continue to have deputies at the courthouse for the time being.
He had previously told the county’s attorneys that he intended to disarm the jail staff, according to an email chain included in the filings.
District Court Judge Jennifer Azure signed the order blocking Raymond from taking back a list of items that included guns, tasers, pepper spray and other crowd-control weapons.
Azure was assigned to the case after all of the Superior Court judges recused themselves Thursday because of a conflict of interest. The county controls a portion of their budget and the corrections department provides security in their courtrooms in Franklin County. The jail has a budget of about $10 million for 2025.
Jail Commander Kielen Harmon wrote in a filing that the certifications the corrections officers have through the Criminal Justice Training Commission should be sufficient to allow them to continue using the weapons.
Jail takeover fallout
The county approved a contract Thursday to have security company Tri-Cities Monitoring take over duties at the guardhouse, which screens everyone coming into the courthouse complex.
The contract was added to the meeting’s agenda after a 24-hour recess, and a copy was not uploaded to the county’s meeting agenda portal. Details of the contract are unknown.
Court filings indicate that County Administrator Brian Dansel already had hired the company before the vote was taken. It’s unclear when that happened.
Commissioners promised that the jail takeover would not result in any employees being fired, but it’s unclear where the corrections deputies who were assigned to the guard shack will now be working. Raymond said there are a total of seven corrections deputies assigned between the courthouse and guard shack.
The Franklin County jail employs about 50, including jailers and administrative staff. They manage a daily average of about 200 inmates.
The decision to take the jail away from Raymond came as a surprise to most, including the sheriff and his staff.
Commissioners said they’ve been thinking about this for a while, but jail oversight has not appeared on any county commission agendas before this week’s meeting. The resolution to take over the jail pointed to a recent state audit as motivation to make the changes.
While the state audit was critical of both the jail and county staff, it ultimately placed responsibility on the county citing lack of financial policies and controls and contract oversight.
The commissioners approve and renew contracts. The sheriff cannot enter into the agreements without their stamp of approval.
While the sheriff has authority over law enforcement in the county, the commission controls his budget.
This story was originally published April 25, 2025 at 10:37 AM.
