Some King County jail inmates are turning the tablets issued to them into weapons, the King County Corrections Guild told KIRO Newsradio. One officer has already been injured.
Inmates are given tablets so they can access legal materials, make phone calls, read books, or watch movies. But Dennis Folk, president of the King County Corrections Guild, said some inmates are breaking them on purpose.
“They’re taking materials from inside the tablet, either the glass screens or there’s metal strips inside of it, and they’re making weapons out of them,” Folk said. “They’re also taking the batteries out, and they’re using that as a way to arc, to light anything from drugs or fentanyl or tobacco in the facility.”
Some inmates are also making tattoo guns out of materials in the tablets, according to Folk.
King County Jail officer stabbed during inmate transfer
On July 10, an inmate being transferred to Western State Hospital tried to stab officers with a weapon he had made out of pieces of a tablet.
“One of our members received an injury to his leg, and it was a relatively minor injury,” Folk said. “But I think the only reason he didn’t get hurt is because he was wearing all this safety gear, helmet, and riot shield and things like that. If that had been used on somebody that didn’t have that equipment, that person probably could have died.”
The next day, another inmate-made weapon was found during a cell search at the Seattle facility, the guild said in a news release Thursday.
Corrections guild calls for tablet policy changes
The guild wants tablets taken away from inmates in restrictive housing and mental health wards, and said anyone who breaks one should not get a replacement for the rest of their booking.
Folk believes there is some value to inmates being issued tablets, so long as they are used for their intended purpose. He said there are approximately 1,500 tablets in circulation in the King County Jail system.
The Washington Department of Corrections provides tablets for its inmates as well.
“I’m assigned to the courts, so I hear from a lot of the people that are going to court that [say] ‘Hey, I was able to complete an anger management class, or a DV class, with my tablet,’ which I think that’s what the intended purpose is,” he said.
Union threatens legal action over King County Jail safety
Folk said members have raised their concerns with jail management and are calling on them to intervene and make changes to the policies surrounding these tablets.
Folk said if nothing is done, he plans to start calling county council members to express his concerns.
“From a union perspective, one of our primary obligations is staff safety,” Folk said. “If our members aren’t safe in the workplace, then I’m going to talk to my attorneys, and then we may have to take some sort of legal action if we have to.”
KIRO Newsradio has reached out to King County’s Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention for comment.
This story was originally posted on MyNorthwest.com
Frank Lenzi is the News Director for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here.
©2026 Cox Media Group
