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Street roots 13 Jan 18, 2013 e j Lawmakers have opportunity to flatline prison growth BY DAVID ROGERS reforms that allow judicial discretion for ’ select offenses can ensure the appropriate n Nov. 30, Gov. John Kitzhaber accountability without increasing prison released his proposed budget for capacity. 2013-15. The budget included no 3) Ballot Measure 57 created increased money for prison expansion - despite the sentences for drug and property crimes. fact that the state projects it will need more Most people convicted under Measure 57 than 2,000 new prison beds at an estimated would be better served by shorter sentences cost of $600 million over and increased access to addiction treatment. the next decade. Measure 57 is the key reason for the current The governor based his prison forecast that indicates we will need budget, instead, on the more than 2,000 more prison beds in the idea that it’s time to stop next decade. Phasing out large portions of the skyrocketing increase Measure 57’s sentence enhancements while in Oregon’s prison increasing drug court diversions provides a population — to hold better approach to breaking the cycle of prison growth flat — a addiction-driven crime. bold and important step 4) Oregon prisoners are staying in prison for Oregon. longer than at any other point in the last How can prison growth be flatlined while decade, and this increased length of stay is a still maintaining community safety? The core driver of the growing prison population. governor created a high-level commission of The commission recommends expanding experts to answer that very question. In earned-time eligibility by 10 percent for December, the Commission on Public Safety those that are currently eligible. Earned-time provided its final report, recommending a is a policy implemented by the DO C that can package of reforms that would smartly provide people with time off their sentences reduce the prison population prospectively for program participation and active (meaning recommended policy changes rehabilitation work. This policy provides an would not apply to individuals currently in incentive to use time in prison productively prison) and shift the focus of our public and can reduce recidivism. The safety system to prevention and local recommendation would increase total interventions. allowable earned time to 30 percent and Here are highlights from those would not apply to those sentenced under recommendations: Measure 11. 1) Currently, the Department of 5) Despite an overwhelming amount of Corrections does not sufficiently assist research that suggests the contrary is people soon to be released from prison or needed, Oregon regularly charges and provide enough of a transition period to sentences youth as adults. Youth serving ensure that people leaving prison are better mandatory minimum adult sentences and prepared for successful re-entry into the who successfully complete all available community. The commission recommends programming have a chance to have a judge extending transitional leave and look at their progress and determine strengthening the transitional leave whether a different level of supervision is useful for the remainder of the sentence. application process. This is a period where certain people are released early into the The commission recommends requiring a community while still under the authority of hearing part-way through a young person’s D O C and receive intensive re-entry support mandatory sentence where a judge can and supervision. determine if the youth should remain in prison or could be transferred for mandatory 2) Our current mandatory minimums supervision by a parole officer. prevent judges from using discretion and 6) Currently, counties that reduce their force longer than appropriate sentences for impact on the state prison population some lower-level Measure 11 crimes. Modest C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T O David Rogers is the executive director for Partnership for Safety and Justice. P S J is a statewide, non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to making Oregon’s approach to crime and public safety more effective and just. 2 1 1 info through decisions made in sentencing, supervision, and revocation have no financial incentive to do so. For instance, if a county court focuses on effective sanctions for holding a probation violator accountable without sending them to state prison, the county bears the cost. This means that counties can often focus on more expensive and less effective prison sanctions for low- level infractions. The commission recommends creating a voluntary performance incentive program that provides fiscal incentives for counties to reduce recidivism and safely reduce their impact on the state prison population. In addition to the above policy recommendations, the governor and the Commission on Public Safety are looking to shift the way we fund Oregon’s public safety infrastructure. Currently, a majority of our public safety spending goes to our prison system, which in many ways means we have failed. The governor is advocating that we shift funding to strengthen local intervention and crime prevention programs. This means more resources for addiction treatment and mental health services and more resources for community corrections and drug courts, for example. There is a huge hope that community- based victim services also receive a significant increase in funding. In 2011, more than 20,000 requests for emergency shelter for domestic and sexual violence victims went unmet in Oregon. We can, and must, do something about this. Providing domestic violence victims with access to shelter, safety planning and legal advocacy can reduce re-assault by up to 70 percent, and yet these programs are tragically underfunded. The policy changes that reduce prison expansion are critical, but without investing in our local public safety infrastructure, we will not actually be strengthening Oregon’s approach to crime and accountability in sustainable ways. The governor has laid out a bold agenda and the upcoming Legislative Session begins on Feb. 4. Sensible public safety reform will be one of the most impactful issues the legislature will attempt to tackle. Here is hoping they can get it done. CENTRAL CITY Celebrate the season with the H o lid a y R o a st from Portland Roasting! 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