NEWS
B Y K E L LY K E N O Y E R
FED BED DEAL DEAD
Lane sheriff cites cost in terminating inmate housing agreement
he Lane County sheriff has canceled a jail beds
deal with the U.S. Marshals Service, citing costs
that outweigh payments, as well as a duty to the
citizens of Lane County.
The Marshals Service is responsible for hous-
ing and transporting federal prisoners. The marshals rent
bed space from jails around the state, including Lane Adult
Corrections, to house prisoners awaiting trial in federal
court or transport to a federal prison.
Sheriff Byron Trapp notified the Marshals Service, Dis-
trict of Oregon, on Oct. 6, signaling the beginning of a 120-
day grace period before the complete end of the agreement.
The contract is slated to end Feb. 3, 2018.
District Court Judge Ann Aiken responded to the notifi-
cation Oct. 12 with an email asking Trapp why the agree-
ment had been terminated. He replied with a letter, written
Oct. 13 and obtained by Eugene Weekly.
“I have an obligation first and foremost to the welfare
and public safety of the citizens of Lane County. In recent
years, Lane County citizens have made it clear: County jail
capacity is important to the community,” Trapp wrote.
The letter went on to say that the cost of maintaining
jail beds for the Marshals Service is $145 per bed per day,
but the service only pays the county $117.57 per bed per
day. Thus, Trapp argues, Lane County is subsidizing the
Marshals Service at the cost of local taxpayers.
When asked to comment on the change, the sheriff cited
a recent jail levy in Springfield as motivation to move those
50 jail beds over from the federal government for county
purposes. “I think adding these 50 beds will reduce our
T
capacity-based release rate,” he says, noting that thanks to
the levy, the county can now afford to fund those beds on
its own.
In the letter Trapp also cites Lane County’s own jail
levy, saying that it allowed the jail to increase the number
of jail beds for local offenders, and that the sheriff’s office
intends to “continue the number of jail beds used for local
offenders.”
The Lane County jail levy costs voters $0.55 per $1,000
of assessed value on a home. So for a home at the 2016
median of value of $175,679, the annual tax payment is
about $96.62.
“My perspective is that removing the Marshal [Service]
inmates from our jail has an immediate impact on our jail
population,” Trapp says.
He points out that thanks to the taxpayer levy, the jail
doesn’t need more outside funding. “I’m not going to give
away more local jail beds because I don’t have a need for
more external revenues and the people of Lane County
have said they want to restore jail capacity,” he tells EW.
“Since the levy we have not released the very violent
offenders, Measure 11 offenders,” Trapp says. He adds that
the 50 additional jail beds will help reduce the number of
early releases, which will decrease the number of offenders
failing to show up for court and perhaps have an impact on
recidivism.
“There’s a lot of strains on the system that go away or
get substantially reduced when jail capacity increases,”
Trapp says.
The Marshals Service declined to say whether it had an-
‘My perspective is that
removing the Marshal [Ser-
vice] inmates from our jail has
an immediate impact on our
jail population.’
— S H E R I F F BY R O N T R A P P
other contract set up to replace the one with Lane County.
The Marshals Service mostly uses Lane County jail beds to
house inmates headed for the federal courthouse.
Trapp says there is no animosity between his office and
the local Marshals Service, instead citing problems nego-
tiating contracts with the Washington, D.C., office for the
end to the contract.
“I fully expect that our relationship will continue
strong,” the sheriff says of the local Marshals Service dis-
trict office.
eugeneweekly.com • November 30, 2017
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