In a 3 to 2 vote Thursday, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners approved a budget modification, releasing contingency funds to keep a 59-bed dorm at Multnomah County’s Inverness Jail in Northeast Portland open through June, 2017.
The divided decision came after impassioned discussion among board members on how to reduce reliance on jail and increase the use of alternative programs/methods aimed at diverting appropriate individuals from jail, changing offender behavior, and keeping the community safe.
In May, the board voted to close two 59-bed dorms at Inverness and to hold more than $808,000 in contingency funding in case of an unanticipated need to keep beds available. The budget allowed for the gradual closure of the dorms and could also fund alternative programs like LEAD or Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion to divert appropriate individuals from jail and into treatment.
Thursday, newly-elected Sheriff Mike Reese reiterated statements from a September 20 board briefing, that closing Dorm 5 would push the jail population above 95 percent capacity and risk an emergency population release notice next year.
“We are committed to the wise use of jail however closing dorm 5, at this time, doesn’t support our collective efforts or overarching goals of the county’s criminal justice system and brings about the consequences our partners and MCSO have worked hard to avoid,” said Sheriff Reese.
The board meeting was the culmination of year-long discussions and budget exercises on how to best use the jail, with the Sheriff’s Office submitting the proposed cuts to the two dorms as part of requested budget constraints last spring.
Commissioner Judy Shiprack lambasted the budget modification, citing among many issues: its impact on the mentally-ill, people of color, prevention of future crimes, and a departure from budget commitments.
‘We approved this money so that we could treat incarceration before it ever happens because what we know is that our jails and not just our jail ... but any jail doesn’t work,” Shiprack decried.
Shiprack, who completes her second term in office this year, pointed to a reduction in jail beds and crime in the last eight years.
“I also think it is a sad diversion from the real issues that confront the Sheriff’s Office and our new Sheriff. It is a diversion from issues like disparities - racial disparities - and the use of force in our jail. It’s a diversion from the real issues of suicide in our jail and the expense of suicide watch. And it flies in the face of the budget concessions that this board made just six months ago …”
“Our average length of stay just makes the wheels turn faster,” Shiprack continued. “It doesn’t do anything to address your experience, your mental health issues, or whether you are a young man of color -- you will be cycling [in and of jail]. That 11-day length of stay just means your chance of going back this year are greater. And your chances of going to the big house are greater.”
But Commissioners Loretta Smith, Jules Bailey and Diane McKeel, who sponsored the budget modification, voted in favor of using the contingency funding.
Outgoing Commissioner McKeel stressed reports of increasing crime in East County, specifically in Gresham and east Portland, and support from partners in those communities.
“I think we’re all working toward the same goal, it’s how we get there,” McKeel said.
“The diversion programs are based on good models but they’re launching in Portland. Once we see some of the data on the impact of these diversion programs, I’m confident the new board will make a good decision in next year’s budget to ensure public safety throughout Multnomah County. I’ve sponsored this budget modification because I don’t think we’re quite there yet and these jail beds are still necessary at this time.”
Commissioner Smith called the higher incarceration rate of blacks, who make up roughly six percent of County’s population, as compared to whites - personal.
“I am a single parent of an African American male who is 26 years-old, and yes I am afraid for him and I told you guys this many times before. This is not about $500,000, this is about Multnomah County recognizing opportunities to keep our community safe. This is about [how] Multnomah County has a $1.8 billion dollar budget. $500,000 is not going to make or break what we do here at Multnomah County.”
“We can fix this,” Smith continued. “We can fix this in the next year’s budget but now is not the time for this to happen.”
The decision allows the board to transfer $505,320 in contingency to the Sheriff’s Office, sustaining operations for Dorm 5 for six months. A new Multnomah County board will then decide next steps for funding.
Outgoing Commissioner Jules Bailey provided the third vote necessary to tap into contingency funding.
“To me this is an issue of giving us a little bit more breathing room, to bring that [alternative option] online as we continue to set the signal at the direction this board intends, said Bailey. “And the next board can make an assessment in the course of the budget process about the effectiveness of those measures as they come online.”
But Chair Kafoury, who will take over Commissioner Shiprack’s role as co-chair of the Local Public Safety Coordinating Council, voted against the measure, emphasizing progress that’s being made in alternative programs, parole and probation sanction reductions, and 12 other system changes that will reduce the need for jail beds.
“We are working hard to makes sure jail is a place for the people who truly pose a risk to our community," said Kafoury. "If we stay on this path we will have the opportunity to invest our public dollars differently. We can invest in people. We can invest in prevention but this will only work if we continue to push ourselves to do things differently.”
“Jail is one of the most expensive options in our criminal justice system and we know from our work with the MacArthur Foundation that spending taxpayer dollars on jail beds for people who are too poor to post bail or people who are waiting for their case to be resolved isn’t effective and it doesn’t make our community safer.”
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