Minjares will save the county money

This month, I’ve been volunteering to help elect Victor Minjares for Thurston County Prosecutor.

I’ve known Victor and his wife, Melissa, for a long time, since our oldest kids were in the same kindergarten class. (They started high school this year.) Victor is kind, funny, a dedicated family man, and an involved member of the community.

But this year, I discovered that he’s also an eloquent, passionate attorney and former prosecutor who’s handled hundreds of cases with sensitivity and smarts over the past 30 years. And he has a deep understanding of issues related to the prosecutor’s office, particularly financial ones, that are facing the county.

A big one is overcrowding. There are many low-level, nonviolent offenders who are in limbo at the Thurston County Jail, waiting for their trials.

That’s a waste of money. It costs more than $40,000 a year per inmate to keep them in a jail where, The Olympian has reported, inmates sometimes sleep on the floor or have to share a bunk with a cellmate.

The county would save thousands —a nd treat people in the system and their families more fairly — if these low-level offenders were moved through the system more effectively.

And that’s just one issue. Victor Minjares wants to fix this along with many other financial and systemic issues in the prosecutor’s office.

Join me and vote Minjares in November for accountability and justice.