The leader of Oregon’s prison system is stepping down at the end of the year to become president of a nonprofit foundation, prompting Gov. John Kitzhaber to conduct a fast-track search for a new corrections chief.

“We are evaluating our options in terms of a national search,” Kitzhaber spokesman Tim Raphael said Tuesday about finding a replacement for Max Williams, the outgoing director of the state Corrections Department. Report by Statesman Journal.

The governor also will consider candidates from within the ranks of Oregon’s 4,300-employee corrections agency, he said.

The post could be filled on a temporary basis with an interim director, or by a permanent appointment, Raphael said.

Either way, “We will definitely have somebody in place” by the time Williams departs, he said.

Williams, 48, a former three-term Republican legislator, has led the Corrections Department for almost eight years. Then-Gov. Ted Kulongoski named him to the post in 2004.

In a Tuesday interview, Williams said the chance to serve as president of the Oregon Community Foundation offered him “a unique opportunity that wasn’t going to come around again.”

“I wasn’t looking for a way out of corrections, but this opportunity came and it seemed like the right way to gracefully kind of move on to a new opportunity that I think really is important for Oregon,” he said.

With assets totaling more than $1.1 billion, the Portland-based foundation awards more than $60 million in grants and contributions each year to nonprofit organizations in this state. It ranks as the nation’s sixth-largest community foundation.

The foundation board announced its decision to hire Williams late Monday. He will succeed Greg Chaille, who is retiring after 24 years as foundation president.

“OCF plays an incredible role in helping improve the lives of Oregonians through philanthropy,” Williams said. “I’m excited to apply my experience in the private, public and nonprofit sectors to the challenges that Oregon faces today and in the future.”

In a prepared statement, Kitzhaber thanked Williams for his service to the state: “Max is a tremendous leader, and Oregon will continue to benefit from his vision and dedication in his new role at the Oregon Community Foundation.”

Prison spending escalated during Williams tenure, owing to a steady influx of felons. The Corrections Department now has a $1.3 billion two-year budget, part of the state’s overall $13.6 billion general fund budget.

Barring changes in sentencing policies, the inmate population is expected to grow from 14,000 to 16,000 in the next 10 years, according to the latest state forecast.

Prison system growth, combined with tough budget times, has posed a daunting challenge for the department in recent years, Williams said. His successor will grapple with the same issue.

“I would say the biggest challenge for whoever replaces me is the same one that we’ve been dealing with for the last few years, which is managing the structure of the Corrections Department in an environment where there are fewer and fewer resources,” he said. “Most of what we do is fixed by statute or case law or the Constitution or sentencing policies or labor contracts. So there is not a lot of maneuvering room for the department.”

As top administrator of the Corrections Department, Williams has been a key advisor to Kitzhaber’s Commission on Public Safety, which is evaluating how public safety can be preserved with less-costly options than lengthy prison sentences.

State Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, praised Williams for effective leadership of the corrections agency. She credited him for pushing for programs designed to help inmates transition back into Oregon communities after completing their sentences.

“Max was very, very supportive of the whole reentry concept, as well as doing a lot more in alcohol and drug treatment, so hopefully we can stop the revolving door,” she said.

Kitzhaber should tap someone from within the Corrections Department to replace Williams, Winters said.

“I would hope that the governor looks at someone who is within and shares those same policies that Max has supported,” she said.

Mary Botkin, political coordinator for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union representing corrections workers, said the governor should go outside the corrections agency to find a new leader.

“I think we need some fresh blood, but I don’t know who that is,” she said. “I don’t have a name. I don’t have a state.”

Tammy Oregon, Resignations

A business group floated a plan this week aimed at protecting school funding by suspending implementation of a get-tough-on-crime measure endorsed by Oregon voters last fall.  Report from Oregon Live.

It’s a politically charged proposal, though. Opponents say it would thwart the will of voters who approved Measure 57 to lengthen prison sentences for repeat property and drug crimes and mandate drug and alcohol treatment for certain offenders. However, the idea is gaining some traction at the Capitol as lawmakers and Gov. Ted Kulongoski struggle to find ways to pay for key services at a time of shrinking state revenue and an increasing prison population.

The Oregon Business Association’s Ryan Deckert appeared before the House Judiciary Committee to urge lawmakers to set Measure 57 aside at least for the next two years. That could save $75 million and free up the money for other programs, he said. “If we want to set a floor for education funding, then we have to be willing to take on issues such as Measure 57,” Deckert said …

Lawmakers traditionally have been reluctant to override the decisions of voters, but these are especially tough times in terms of the state budget. The next state revenue forecast, due out on May 15, is expected to show the state facing a shortfall of $4 billion or more.  That’s why the notion of suspending Measure 57 has gotten as far as it has.  Kevin Neely, spokesman for the Oregon District Attorneys Association, said local prosecutors aren’t wild about suspending something adopted by voters just last November. But he said that depending on how it’s written, district attorneys could sign off on the plan that’s aimed at cutting the $1.5 billion prison budget for the coming two years.

The full article contains a lot more detail and background.

vericatrajkova Economic Issues, Oregon

The rates have been set: A bed at the Springfield Municipal Jail in Oregon is $60 a night. But the City Council’s decision Monday night to approve the fee did not come without a lengthy debate among the six-member board about whether the fee is fair, and whether the city can expect to collect enough from convicted inmates to break even for its efforts.  This report from the Eugene Register-Guard.

Councilors’ approval, in a 4-2 vote, came with the caveat that they expect an update in six months on the fee’s effectiveness.  “If this is something that within a certain period of time looks like it’s not working out … I see no point in wasting our time if it’s not cost-­effective,” Mayor Sid Leiken said.

The 100-bed jail is expected to open in October, and initial estimates are that the inmate housing fees could provide $18,000 of the jail’s $2.5 million budget.  But the ordinance will go into effect before the municipal jail’s opening, which means Springfield will soon begin charging inmates for part of the $109 a night the city pays for each of its five spots at the Lane County Jail …

Though he said he supports finding a way to charge inmates, Councilor Joe Pishioneri noted that many criminals are poor to begin with.   “Are we squeezing blood out of a turnip?” asked Pishioneri, a special services deputy with the county jail. “We need to keep a very close eye on it to see if it is worth our while. “There’s a reason many institutions don’t charge the housing fee, because it’s just not worth it,” he said.

Lane County does not charge a jail fee, but Klamath and Douglas counties both have daily rates.  Douglas County recently lowered its fee from $60 ­— the maximum charge allowed by state law — to $20 and is seeing better returns, jail administrators there have said.

vericatrajkova Booking Fees, OR Lane County, Oregon

When the Springfield OR jail opens this fall, about $200,000 will vanish from the coffers of the Lane County Jail in Eugene.  Reported by the Eugene Register-Guard.

That’s how much Springfield pays the county annually to reserve five beds in the jail, — beds that Springfield no longer will need. The loss to the county, if not recovered elsewhere, may mean a decline in service at the county jail.  “That will be an impact to us,” Lane County Sheriff Russ Burger said. “We’ve got to figure out how we’re going to make that up.”

But the county could find itself in an even trickier position: a bidding war with Springfield to lease out jail beds.  The jail relies heavily on renting out beds to supplement the money it gets from the county general fund: Of the county’s $28 million correctional budget, which includes the jail and many other programs, more than $18 million comes from outside sources, including renting space in the jail.  The money the county earns through leasing beds helps cover some of the cost of running the 127 beds that the county provides for local offenders.  “For us, (renting beds) is an absolute necessity,” Burger said. “We would not be able to house as many local offenders if we didn’t lease beds out.”

The U.S. Marshals Service pays the county about $4.5 million a year to rent beds for federal violators. Eugene pays about $800,000 to reserve beds in the county jail. Another $4.5 million comes from the state to rent beds for certain categories of offenders and to fund other correctional work, said Capt. Doug Hooley, county adult corrections division commander.

Competition from Springfield would obviously be unwelcome.

vericatrajkova County-City Issues, County-State Issues, Federal Payments, OR Lane County, Oregon, Prison and Jail Construction, US Marshall's Service

For the first time in nearly 20 years, Linn County OR Jail has begun serving inmates a cold rather than a hot breakfast in order to save money.

In these tough financial times, “two hots and a cold” will save the county about $38,000 a year. The jail feeds an average population of 210 inmates.    The food service provider, Aramark, charges $1.50 per meal and provides three meals a day. The previous cost per meal was $1.64.  Aramark suggested changing to a cold breakfast as a way to save the jail some money. Capt. Barry Baggett of the sheriff’s office presented it to the sheriff, and he agreed …

Examples of the “continental” breakfast include peanut butter bars, hard-boiled eggs and fruit. Wednesday’s breakfast at the jail was a big biscuit with apple jelly and butter, a cinnamon roll, a cup of coffee and a carton of milk … Previous to the change, inmates were eating oatmeal, hot wheat cereal, hard-boiled and scrambled eggs, pancakes, or biscuits and gravy.

vericatrajkova Aramark, Economic Issues, Food Services, OR Linn County, Oregon

A new state report projects Oregon’s prison population will exceed 15,000 by 2013 because of Measure 57, which requires mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug and property crimes under certain circumstances. But the Oregon Department of Corrections may have a hard time housing new inmates in the upcoming 2009-11 biennium if it has to enact a worst-case budget scenario that would mean closing 10 prisons.  Reported by the East Oregonian.

It says Oregon’s prison system has about 13,765 inmates, and without the effects of Measure 57, the state’s prison population would grow at an annual rate of 2-3 percent through mid-2010, with growth slowing to less than 1 percent in the outer years of the forecast. With the effects of Measure 57, however, growth will exceed 5 percent through mid-2011, while gradually returning to baseline growth in the later years of the forecast.

Voters passed Measure 57 in November, and it went into effect Jan. 1. A state committee projected Measure 57 would cost $152 million during the 2009-11 budget period. But Oregon’s severe recession will force cutbacks in state programs and services.  Recently, the Oregon Legislative Fiscal Office asked state departments to prepare 30 percent reduction plans for the biennium beginning July 1. Departments submitted those plans Friday. For corrections, that meant a proposal that cut $445 million from its $1.5 billion budget.

A 30% reduction in DOC funding would require the Department to

close four minimum-security facilities: Columbia River Correctional Institution in Portland, South Fork Forest Camp near Tillamook and Santiam Correctional Institution and Mill Creek Correctional Facility, both in Salem. All are minimum security facilities and collectively hold about 1,400 inmates, many on the verge of release … Powder River Correctional Facility in Baker City, Shutter Creek Correctional Institution in North Bend, the new Warner Creek Correctional Facility in Lakeview, the Oregon State Penitentiary Minimum Facility and the 50-year-old medium-security Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem. Those minimum security facilities can house 1,142 inmates, including 30 women, and Oregon State Correctional Institution is an 880-bed transitional release facility …  and Deer Ridge Correctional Institution in Madras. Deer Ridge is Oregon’s newest prison, having first accepted inmates in 2007. The prison has beds for 644 minimum-security inmates and 1,223 medium-security inmates. Closing it would save $42 million …

And what would happen to the inmates in these prisons?  “That’s a really good question and I don’t have an answer for it yet,” Jeanine Hohn, corrections department communications manager, said.

vericatrajkova Economic Issues, Oregon, Overcrowding, Sentencing

Since the work center — with its 90 extra beds — reopened at the Deschutes County OR jail a year ago, the Sheriff’s Office has stopped a practice known as “matrixing,” in which inmates considered to be a lower risk are released to free up space for more serious offenders.  Report from the Bend Bulletin.

The work center, however, did not solve Deschutes County’s long-term need for more jail space, and Sheriff Larry Blanton said the jail could soon run out of beds for inmates.   If the inmate population outgrows the Deschutes County jail in the next year, Blanton is considering sending offenders to Jefferson County’s jail, which would allow Deschutes County to avoid early releases for some inmates. Blanton set aside about $300,000 to pay for as many as 20 beds in Jefferson County’s jail in his budget for the upcoming fiscal year that starts in July.

Deschutes officials have known for several years that the jail — which has 228 beds — needed to be expanded, but a lack of funding has held up those plans … In 2006, a consulting group hired by the county recommended adding beds and staff, but the county has been unable to  pull together the estimated $44 million it will cost to expand the jail.  “I would be surprised if between now and when we get the jail built, we don’t have to exercise an option to put people somewhere else,” Blanton said. The last thing he wants to do is “matrix” inmates, he said …

Deschutes County’s work center provides 90 additional beds for male inmates who can work on projects in the community, but a county policy limits the work center to inmates who meet certain criteria, such as showing good behavior in custody and being at the jail on less-serious charges. The Sheriff’s Office already has revised the policy several times, Blanton said, to allow more inmates to qualify for the work center.   “In a perfect world, the people you would have in the work center would be the ones you would not worry about having out in the community,” Blanton said. “Essentially, what it’s turned into now is a default jail” …

Another factor in the shortage of jail beds is an increase in the number of female inmates, said Blanton and Capt. Ruth Jenkin, who oversees the jail. The county recently set aside 12 more beds for women, which brought the total number available for women to 40 beds. That means 12 fewer beds for men.  “The female population has increased dramatically,” Blanton said. “We were out of female beds to the point where we were going to have to matrix a lady.”

There is a lot more background in the article at the Bend Bulletin.

vericatrajkova Economic Issues, Female Inmates, OR Deschutes County, OR Jefferson County, Overcrowding, Prison and Jail Construction

Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla OR has been running its new higher-security housing unit for nearly three weeks.  This report from EO Now.

The administrative housing unit, or AHU, is home to 60 inmates … Guy Hall, population management administrator for the Oregon Department of Corrections, said administrative housing provides more protective custody for inmates. That means the unit has different operational procedures, Hall said in an e-mail, such as limiting contact with other inmates. The inmates on the unit also have restricted visiting, which means inmates remain behind a glass window during visits.  “Other than what has been mentioned, we try to operate the AHU close to the way we operate general population units,” Hall said …

[Some i]nmates …present specific challenges to prisons, Hall said.  “The inmates whose crimes have received extensive media coverage are monitored in order to ensure their safety. Inmates of high notoriety are often placed on our sensitive inmate transport list which requires higher security escorting when they are moved from one institution to another. As always, we make mandatory contact with affected law enforcement agencies.”

Hall said the new unit will free up bed space for segregation units at prisons in the Willamette Valley. The unit is not the direct result of the passage of Ballot Measure 57, which created mandatory minimum prison sentences for certain drug and property crime convicts.  “However, with its passage the department must be as efficient as possible with bed space,” Hall said. “For a long time, there was a deficient number of AHU cells available in segregation units at institutions in the Valley. There were many transfers of inmates occurring between those institutions, which was inefficient.”

vericatrajkova Maximum Security, Oregon

Umatilla County OR Community Corrections will close its Program Center to cut costs because of expected state budget shortfalls in the coming biennium, according to Community Corrections Director Mark Royal.

Closing the program will eliminate seven positions. Community corrections will eliminate an additional probation officer as it hands over Morrow County’s community corrections responsibilities to that county in the coming biennium.  The layoffs would become effective July 1, the start of the next biennium …

The Program Center is a 24-hour facility that provides residential living within a dormitory setting, which includes access to treatment. Community corrections intends to continue treatment in its Day Management Program to replace Program Center services, according to a memo Royal gave county commissioners when asking for permission to close the Program Center. Royal expects Morrow County to take on its community corrections program, reducing funds by a bit more – and the reason for officially cutting a probation officer job, though that position will likely be transferred to Morrow County.

More information in the article from the East Oregonian.

vericatrajkova Community Corrections, Economic Issues, OR Morrow County

The Oregon Department of Corrections is planning to build a new prison near Junction City in which, officials say, severely mentally ill inmates would be dealt with far differently than has been possible before.  As reported by the Register-Guard:

The 1,262-bed medium-security lockup just south of town would include 462 beds for mentally ill inmates — double the number at any of Oregon’s existing 13 state prisons.  In addition, the proposed Junction City men’s prison would house up to 214 physically ailing, impaired and aging inmates.   The medium-security prison is planned to open in 2014. It would follow construction of a 532-bed men’s minimum-security prison as part of the same correctional complex, due to open in 2012. Both are contingent on the 2009 Legislature’s approval of $350 million or more of bonds to pay for construction …

Never before has Oregon — nor, do its corrections officials believe, any other state — set out to build a prison that would primarily house inmates with serious medical and mental health needs …

Nationally, the cost of incarcerating an elderly inmate is three times that of a regular one, according to the National Institute of Corrections. Many of them are so impaired that they’re unable to climb stairs, clamber onto an upper bunk bed, or move around without the assistance of walkers or wheelchairs, said William Hoefel, health services administrator at the Oregon Department of Corrections.  Williams said even middle-aged inmates present a medical burden on prisons.  “A lot of these guys have done really horrible things to their bodies and preventative health care has not been high on their lists,” he said. “So a 50-year-old presents a lot more like a 70-year-old, for the purposes of the level of medical care we’re required to provide.”

The full article at the Register-Guard is long and detailed and worth the read.

vericatrajkova Aging Population, Inmate Health, Mental Health Issues, Oregon