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| Jails try new methods to reduce length of stay |
| By OregonLive.com |
| Published: 11/01/2004 |
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Clackamas County in Oregon has found a way to keep more inmates in jail -- potentially thousands more -- without adding overnight beds or cells. The county jail is packing low-level offenders into three holding rooms, two for men, one for women, where offenders serve short sentences in 12-hour shifts. With a $1.2 million federal grant that came in last week, the county plans to add holding rooms to detain 85 more people. Over the course of a year, potentially thousands more low-level inmates will serve their sentences in the expanded area. Alternative sentencing is becoming more popular as officials try to meet budgets without undermining justice. Multnomah, Washington and other counties have similar programs. In Washington County, inmates pay to participate in an alternative sentencing program that puts them to work. Projects have included remodeling a police station and tending a garden. Low-level offenders in Washington County pay $20 a day to work a shift that usually lasts from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. Offenders who show up intoxicated or are unable to pay spend their shift -- and possibly longer -- in jail. Cpl. Terry Rilling, coordinator of Washington County's "Work in Lieu of Jail" program, said it not only frees jail beds and saves taxpayers money, but the county annually collects about $50,000 from participants. In Clackamas County, convicted criminals are rarely released before their sentences are complete. But due to jail overcrowding, the county does release about 500 defendants a month who are in jail awaiting trial. Once free, a portion of them flee rather than risk conviction. And in many cases, the county lacks the resources to track them down. For law enforcement, the extra space will put "some teeth in what we do," said Lt. Mike Alexander of the Clackamas County Jail. Jail officials say that for every person serving a 12-hour shift, one jail bed is freed up for round-the-clock incarceration of a person accused or convicted of a more serious crime. The original purpose of Clackamas County's "weekender" program, and of variations practiced elsewhere, was to enable low-level offenders to keep their jobs while still being held accountable for their crimes. Clackamas County has expanded the program to include offenders sentenced to 10 days or less in jail and now holds "weekenders" seven days a week. The cost of expanding Clackamas County's booking area will be $2.2 million. The federal grant, part of the Violent Offender Incarceration and Truth-in-Sentencing program, will cover $1.2 million, and the county will pay the rest. |
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