Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon recently suspended an earned-time program that allowed some prison inmates to qualify for earlier release, in an effort to save money.

But April Baer reports that while the legislative votes are over, a larger battle is just beginning.

In the world of state prisons, release day is just one of several rituals marking the slow passage of time.

Sgt Sheri Keepers  “R&D Unit 1, would you send from 10-18 for release.”

At the Santiam  Correctional Institute, Sergeant Sheri Keepers didn’t have many inmates lined up to leave yesterday ( Monday ) morning.

Sgt Sheri Keepers: “Today I have 1 release, it says 7AM to bus.”
 


That means today’s departing inmate doesn’t have family members or friends waiting. So Keepers will take inventory of his clothes and personal effects.


Sgt. Sheri Keepers:   “Bring your property up here… where’s your state bedding and stuff?”



And then a man who’s been behind bars for fifteen years  - and who preferred not to be identified - heads to one final checkpoint. 
 


Corporal at the door:  “OK, so you’ve got your green ID card, correct?  OK good, this right here is your parole packet, your Chariot voucher here….your voting rights… your debit card from DOC. Any money you have left from Department of Corrections is in here. Good luck, take care.”

He signs off, signs out, and trots into the morning mist to meet his parole officer, then hop a bus home.

Last year, Oregon’s legislators experimented with sending more prisoners home earlier as a way to save money.  The state already has mechanisms in place that allow for up to 20% earned-time credits.

But the 2009 plan permitted another ten percent sentence reduction, under certain conditions.

The state devised a complex system for evaluating who would be eligible – reviewing work history and education as well as the crimes inmates committed.

Max Williams:  “Ultimately over time,  these programs actually do save money."

Max Williams, Director of Oregon’s Department of Corrections, did not draw up the plan, but he agrees with its legislative authors, it was one of the few places in the corrections prison budgets to hunt for cash.



Max Williams: “They save the total number of bed days available, which frees up a bed and allows someone else to get in.”



Williams didn’t get the saved money back – the legislature spent it on other things.   But he says encouraging inmates toward work programs and education is in line with is goals, and he credits the change with relieving some prison crowding.

He was able to delay plans for new prison construction. Both the administration and the legislature have had a hard time pinning down how much money was saved. It’s estimated at about six million dollars.


But the project began to backfire when some victims’ rights groups got wind of what was going on, and took their concerns to the legislature. 
 


Mike Brown: “On the morning of  AM of January 6th, two portland police detectives  knocked on our door. I could tell by the look in their eyes Cassie was gone.”



Mike Brown is a police officer with the Port of Portland. His daughter Cassie was killed in 2003 by a young man she’d dated casually.

In early February, he testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee, asking for a repeal of the new earned time rules.
 


Mike Brown: “You cannot imagine what it’s like to be told your daughter is not coming home again. There’ll be no more birthdays, you’ll never hear her voice again, hear her laugh.”



While the man who killed Brown’s daughter wasn’t scheduled for a release hearing, neither was his case explicitly ruled out for review. 
 
Political considerations like these have left lawmakers in Oregon – and elsewhere – scrambling.

A review by the National Conference of State legislatures finds Oregon among dozens of states tweaking and re-tweaking their sentencing policies. 
 


California has an ongoing lawsuit over its 2009 early release law. Washington has pared down its probation program – but the legislature hasn’t been willing to go for an early release program.
 


Allison Lawrence: “Some  of the costs are being saved by freeing up bedspace.”



The NCSL’s Allison Lawrence says, compared with budgeting for education or health programs, prisons are smaller pools to dredge for money.  Plus, Lawrence says, the kind of measures that really cut costs are hard. 



Allison Lawrence: “But in order to really save costs on prisons, you need to reduce beds so you can close a wing of a prison, or close a prison.” 



Those, Lawrence says, tend to be a much more difficult votes to defend.  
 
If anything, Oregon may be in for a more grueling debate over sentencing and money. The legislature will have to re-balance the budget this winter, this time  without stimulus help from the federal government.

And the Oregon Anti-Crime Alliance has confirmed it has a ballot title for a  November Truth in Sentencing measure.

If the group decides to gather signatures for it, and if it passes, it would roll back Oregon’s earned time rule to its pre-2009 maximum. Any savings bump the legislature had hoped to create would be gone for good. 
 


April Baer, OPB News.