Persons sentenced to felony terms or a combination of terms of more than three hundred sixty-five days of incarceration shall be committed to state institutions under the authority of the department of corrections. Persons serving sentences of three hundred sixty-five consecutive days or less may be sentenced to a jail as defined in RCW 70.48.020. All persons convicted of felonies or misdemeanors and sentenced to jail shall be the financial responsibility of the city or county.
RCW 70.48.400
Sentences to be served in state institutions—When—Sentences that may be served in jail—Financial responsibility of city or county.
Known as the City and County Jails Act
The act spans §§ 70–70 (40 sections).
Applied in 12 court decisions — leading case 128 Wash. 2d 537 - Whatcom County v. City of Bellingham (1996)
Most recently applied in State v. Murray (September 2003)
1987 c 462 s 11; 1984 c 235 s 1.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.