The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 27 received an update on the Corrections Recommendations Project, which was commissioned in response to a sharp increase of the number of deaths in custody during the 2023 calendar year.
The briefing, presented by the Sheriff’s Office and the Health Department's Corrections Health Division, comes after Multnomah County jails reported a record number of adults who died in custody. The Sheriff’s Office operates and manages the jails, but works closely with Corrections Health to provide medical care to adults in custody. Eleven people have died in County jails since 2022 — more than the previous seven years combined. Seven people died in custody in 2023 and one person has died in custody in 2024.
Jenny Carver, deputy chief of staff for Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell, explained that the purpose of the Corrections Recommendations Project was to create a “thoughtful and sustainable way” to implement recommendations to increase transparency and accountability regarding safety in County jails.
“It is important that in this process, we are centering the values of the Sheriff’s Office and the County to practice unwavering compassion, serve everyone with dignity and respect, have the courage to do what's right and just, and that we hold ourselves accountable as we strive for continuous improvements,” she said.
Carver explained that work on the Corrections Recommendations Project since April 2024 has organized 407 total recommendations concerning jail policies, procedures and practices — taken from 14 reports after five different evaluations — to develop 64 actionable goals. Those goals have been sorted into themes of operations, staffing or facilities, and assigned more detailed categories.
Leaders from the Sheriff's Office and the County, she said, have participated in numerous workgroups to develop individual plans for implementing each of the goals. Seven workgroups have been identified. An evaluation to determine if the purpose of the project had been fulfilled is scheduled to be completed by spring of 2025.
“I am accountable to this community,” said Sheriff Morrisey O’Donnell. “I greatly appreciate our continued partnership and hard work of Corrections Health, who truly are alongside us each and every day. I am committed to identifying and implementing solutions to improve our facilities to prevent deaths in our custody.”
Half of the goals are in the early stage of review, Carver said. About 30% of the goals are in progress, indicating that work has already begun on implementation. About 15% of the goals are currently under review by a workgroup, while 3% of the goals have been completed. Progress on the goals can be found on the Corrections Recommendations Project webpage.
One of the highest priorities is to address staffing challenges in both the Sheriff’s Office and Corrections Health, said Carver. The staffing workgroup began meeting in August and will soon begin implementation strategies.
Corrections Health Deputy Director Tony Gaines said that his division and the Sheriff's Office are working together to build a proactive protocol and system for tracking and analyzing shared data. Joint work is underway to create a shared system for tracking overdose responses where naloxone is deployed within jails and hospital transports.
“Existing systems are actively being expanded to regularly remind all staff about signs and symptoms of suicide ideation, mental illness and substance use disorder, with a focus on identifying who needs potentially life saving attention,” said Gaines.
Corrections Facilities Chief Deputy Steve Reardon spoke to how the Sheriff’s Office and Corrections Health have been finding improved ways of sharing communications and information about adults in custody that are subject to privacy requirements.
“This has led to more timely access to data and the development of shared tools such as a dashboard that tracks responses to suspected overdoses in the facilities,” said Reardon. “The benefit of working through the different stages of our goals together is sharing information about the work that is already happening. This has led to increased awareness and allowed us to collaborate earlier.”
Board comment
“You all are putting together an infrastructure that can help manage major staffing and leadership changes and keep ongoing capacity moving forward,” said Commissioner Jesse Beason. “Where do you see the challenges in the next 12 months?”
Sheriff Morrisey O’Donnell responded that “hiring, recruiting, retaining and training an adequate number of staff” presents a barrier to full implementation of the report’s goals.
“If I don't have a workforce to actually implement these recommendations and be able to sustain core service, it is going to be challenging to continue to be innovative and actually provide the necessary services for our adults in custody and supporting the needs of our community given that we are in a mental health, addiction and homelessness crisis,” she said.
“We definitely share the barriers and the struggles the Sheriff’s Office has when it comes to staffing,” Gaines added. “We, too, have very strong needs for greater staffing levels. To the extent that we can get more nurses and be competitive in that process of acquiring nurses, I think that'll go a long way in helping us meet our staffing challenges and needs.”
Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards told presenters she appreciated “the seriousness with which you are looking at the deaths in custody and what can be done to change that” before expressing her curiosity “about the opportunity to have a mid-year (budget) bump to address the staffing issue.”
“You can have amazing process improvements and system changes, but without staffing, some of those are difficult to implement,” she said.
Chair Jessica Vega Pederson responded that all positions in the Sheriff's Office had been fully funded in her budget. “So, if there were additional staffing needs based on the recommendations that are coming out of the work of this group, I am happy to talk about them with both the Sheriff and Corrections Health.
She added, “To address your question of mid-year changes, we don't normally do that at the County.”
“I appreciate the commitment of time and resources that both the Sheriff’s Office and Corrections Health are doing,” closed Chair Vega Pederson. “I know it is something all of us take seriously and I appreciate the in-depth response that's happening.”