Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe Community Justice Center

The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s (PGST) primary goal, to enhance justice programing and services, requires physical changes in our court environment.  As part of our larger comprehensive strategy on justice needs and public safety, we recognize that we must reinvent our Courthouse, that a justice center is a building whose design is as important to the community it serves as is its function. When we look at how the PGST provides for and administers justice to its community, we have learned that today’s justice system is experiencing a paradoxical shift, that civil and criminal resolutions are expanding, and that the court’s work is increasing in terms of the number, size and complexity of cases and litigants.  This paradox creates new problems for court space. As we address the lack of physical infrastructure to ensure that we can meet the burgeoning needs of the PGST community, we recognize that a multi-use court space is crucial.
    Through the renovation of an existing Tribal building, we can address the unique challenges and impacts of COVID-19 and the real security concerns that our justice operations face.  The pandemic has revealed technological and physical space needs that the court and public safety must meet, but currently cannot.  The renovation of the Tribe’s behavioral health building will allow Port Gamble to adapt to pandemic-era changes by re-imagining our judicial system to provide fair access. The creation of a multi-purpose justice center will improve access to justice by consolidating the services within one facility that is culturally relevant and will increase the willingness of the Port Gamble S’Klallam community to actively participate in the justice system, protect the values that are important to community, and improve the public’s awareness of the judiciary and strengthen the belief in the existence of justice that defends and protects.