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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 2017)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2017 Prison use: ‘I think we could sit down and find some common ground’ Continued from Page 1A histories. But some have questioned whether sentencing orders are too severe, particularly for felons who receive probation, making it more likely they will fail to meet the con- ditions and get sent to prison. “I think what our county needs to do is the players need to sit down together in a room and make some negotiations on what can we do,” said Lt. Kristen Hanthorn, who leads the Sheriff’s Office Parole and Pro- bation Division. “Are we identifying the right people? Are we placing the right people on probation or should these people be going to prison on a first sentence? “Are we sending people to prison because they’re still using drugs, when they’re a drug addict and they haven’t been able to get into good treatment?” Judge Paula Brownhill, the pre- siding judge of the Circuit Court, hopes to meet soon with Marquis, Hanthorn and others on whether sentencing and probation can — or should — be improved. “I think we could sit down and find some common ground,” the judge said. “I hope we can, because we’re going to try that.” Justice reinvestment Over the past decade, 33 states have experimented with justice reinvestment to contain the explo- sive growth in spending on cor- rections and confront the trou- bling number of felons who commit new crimes after they get out of prison. States spent $53 billion on correc- tions in 2012, according to the Coun- cil of State Governments, and an esti- mated 40 percent of people released from prison wind up returning within three years. In Oregon, the prison population swelled by nearly 50 percent between 2000 and 2010, the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission found, and the state’s two-year corrections budget has grown to $1.6 billion. Justice reinvestment can help states better control the prison pop- ulation and, ideally, take the money saved by reducing prison use to help counties identify felons who can be supervised locally. Oregon law The justice reinvestment law approved by the state Legislature in 2013 made sentencing changes for drug and property crimes and authorized grants to counties to devise ways to divert offenders from prison. Felons on probation are eligi- ble for earned discharge, where they can shave up to 50 percent off their supervision if they pay any restitu- tion owed and complete treatment or other terms. The law also encouraged the state Department of Corrections to select more inmates for short-term transitional leave, enabling inmates to get out of prison 90 days early — up from 30 days — to smooth their re-entry into the community. The goals of the law are to reduce prison use, lower recidivism, increase public safety and hold offenders accountable. At the time the law was passed, Oregon planned to open a new prison at Junction City for men by this year and a new prison for women at the former Oregon State Penitentiary minimum security facility in Salem. Over the past few years, the growth in the prison population for men has stabilized. The state had to expand the Deer Ridge Correctional Institution in Madras last year to han- dle more prisoners, but there is no new prison in Junction City. “That’s huge, right? I mean we avoided building a prison and having it up and running,” Michael Schmidt, the executive director of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, said in a speech at the Justice Reinvestment summit in Salem in February. The women’s prison population is more complicated. During the past Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian District Attorney Josh Marquis holds up case files from his office on Phillip Ferry — who shot and killed Seaside Police Sgt. Jason Goodding — during a press conference on the shooting last year. two decades, the women’s population has nearly tripled and the only wom- en’s prison — Coffee Creek Correc- tional Facility in Wilsonville — is overcrowded. Gov. Kate Brown has placed $17.5 million in her proposed budget for a second women’s prison. Long term, though, the trend is promising. The latest forecast by the state Office of Economic Analysis esti- mated the prison population will increase 4 percent over the next decade, from 14,684 last September to 15,273 in September 2026. Ore- gon’s population is pegged to rise by 12.2 percent over the same time, so the incarceration rate is projected to fall by 7.7 percent. County grants The state has awarded nearly $54 million in grants to counties for jus- tice reinvestment over the past two budget cycles. Gov. Brown has rec- ommended $32 million more in her budget. Local public safety coordinating councils in each county decide how to spend the grants. Some of the grants have been used for better pretrial assessments to determine whether defendants need mental health or substance abuse treatment. Money has been used to improve probation so offenders diverted from prison are well super- vised. Grants have also been spent to help offenders find drug or alcohol treatment and transitional housing. Clatsop County has received more than $600,000 in grants and has used some of the money to hire a new probation officer. The county has also spent money on substance abuse and sex offender treatment and housing assistance. Ross Caldwell, the justice rein- vestment liaison at the Oregon Crim- inal Justice Commission, said each county has unique issues. Criminal justice decisions filter through police and prosecutors to judges and pro- bation officers, and some counties have higher crime rates, more serious crimes and more prosecutions than others. One woman in Seaside who received a 30-year prison sentence last year for embezzling more than $214,000 from local businesses pushed Clatsop County’s prison use higher, for example, although the county remains high even with that stiff sentence factored out. “We’re not trying to vilify any- body with this stuff,” said Caldwell, a former deputy district attorney in Multnomah County. “We’re just try- ing to track it as best we can.” State lawmakers, however, are looking for results. “This is an investment,” Cald- well said of the attitude in Salem. “What is our return on our invest- ment, because if you’re just going to Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Judge Paula Brownhill listens to arguments from a defense law- yer in 2015. Lt. Kristen Hanthorn use more prison, why should we give you money? “You could do that with no money.” Chances Fed up with a criminal justice sys- tem that often appears to give felons a break, Oregon voters have taken sen- tencing reform into their own hands. Measure 11, approved by vot- ers in 1994, set mandatory mini- mum prison sentences for violent crimes like murder, rape, robbery and assault. Measure 57, which passed in 2008, applied tougher sentences to drug and property crimes. Worried about the cost — and wisdom — of sending more people to prison, state lawmakers used the justice reinvestment law to soften sentences for Measure 57 crimes. Marquis, a veteran prosecutor who is an influential voice on crim- inal justice issues, has been skeptical of justice reinvestment from the start. In 2015, the District Attorney’s Office went to Circuit Court to chal- lenge the earned-discharge provision of the law, arguing that it gives pro- bation officers more discretion over sentences than prosecutors or judges. Judge Philip Nelson worked out a compromise that requires felons to complete their time on probation, but not necessarily under the close super- vision of the probation office. Marquis said many defendants in Clatsop County who go to prison for drug and property crimes have a string of prior felonies. “I’m very leery of what they con- sider a ‘success,’” Marquis said in an email. “By their definition, any time someone does not go to prison it’s a success.” Policy experts warn against crim- inal justice reform by anecdote, but individual, high-profile crimes can shape public perception. The trail of blame for why a convicted felon is not in prison is often long and unforgiving. State Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scap- poose, and Clatsop County Sher- iff Tom Bergin were critical of jus- tice reinvestment last year after the fatal shooting of Seaside Police Sgt. Jason Goodding. Phillip Ferry, who had 17 felony convictions and was on parole, shot Goodding in a strug- gle during an arrest. Ferry, a chronic drug abuser who was well-known among law enforcement, was shot and killed by another police officer. Marquis does not measure suc- cess by convictions or the amount of time felons spend in prison, but wonders how many chances people should get. He believes the felons who are going to prison for drug and property crimes belong in prison. “My office doesn’t look at data. We look at people. The defendant, the victim, the crime,” Marquis said in an email. “How egregious was the original crime? What was the harm to the victim, the community? What was the defendant’s attitude? What was the defendant’s previous crimi- nal record? “Each of these cases need to be taken very much individually.” Downward departure The probation officer hired in Clatsop County with justice rein- vestment grant money helps pro- vide more intensive supervision for offenders who are on what are known as downward-departure sentences. Under Oregon sentencing guide- lines, departure sentences are outside the typical range given the severity of the crime and the defendant’s crim- inal history. A downward departure means a lesser sentence. But downward-departure sen- tences stem from agreements between prosecutors and defense attorneys — and executed by judges — that can set offenders up for fail- ure. Prosecutors in Marquis’ office do not agree to structured sanctions for probation violations — like a few days in the county jail for a urine sample that tests positive for drugs. Instead, violations come back before the judge for review. Prosecutors almost always expect these defendants to waive earned dis- charge, one of the tools offered by justice reinvestment. The agreements may also require that if probation is revoked, the offender is not eligible for an alternative incarceration pro- gram that could result in an early release from prison. “When the court directs us to bring them back before the judge every time we find that they’ve done something wrong, it really wears people out,” Lt. Hanthorn of the Parole and Probation Division said. “It wears out the offender. It wears out the court. It wears out the DA’s office. It wears out the POs. “And I think we’re setting our- selves up to fail those offenders.” Last year, Clatsop County had significantly more cases with down- ward-departure sentences than neigh- boring Columbia and Tillamook counties. State justice reinvestment data shows that Clatsop County also has a high level of prison use for pro- bation revocations, especially for property crimes. “So we have to constantly fight a battle — a tug of war — over whether somebody could be treated in the community or whether it’s time for them to go to prison,” Hanthorn said. Pretrial release Even if Marquis were to agree to more sentences with structured sanc- tions, overcrowding at the county jail could prevent probation officers from using short stints behind bars to con- trol offenders’ behavior and reduce probation revocations that lead to prison. The 60-bed jail is often at or over capacity. Hanthorn has spoken with Judge Brownhill and Lt. Matt Phillips, the jail commander, about adding a pre- trial release officer who would assess whether defendants have ties — like a job, home or family — that make them less likely to miss court dates if they are released from custody pend- ing trial. Typically, about 70 percent of inmates at the county jail are await- ing trial, a figure many believe is too high. “We would be identifying those subjects that could be monitored — not in custody during their pretrial — without creating a risk to the commu- nity,” Phillips said. Releasing more defendants before trial could free up beds at the jail for probation officers to sanction the fel- ons at risk of violating probation and going to prison. Pretrial assessments would also give judges more information about defendants earlier in the process, which could eventually lead to more effective screening for behavioral or substance abuse problems. “The more information that judges have, the better decisions we make,” Brownhill said. Alternative incarceration programs Hanthorn is critical of prison sen- tences where offenders are not eligi- ble for an alternative incarceration program, which provides treatment in prison and a path to early release. Prosecutors want to ensure inmates are held accountable and serve their sentences, a standard that can be undermined by generous time off. But Hanthorn believes such orders can hurt the community in the long run, since offenders will likely return to the county on parole and will need extra help if they did not get coun- seling or treatment in prison. Clat- sop County, like other rural counties, has struggled with gaps in the men- tal health safety net and the lack of drug and alcohol treatment options for people who do not have private insurance. “They’re going to come back here,” Hanthorn said. Port: Hellberg has commercially fished for more than 50 years Continued from Page 1A Campbell, the owner of Campbell Marine Towing & Construction who filed last month, said he has a great deal of enthusiasm for the Port. “I think we’re moving ahead a little bit, in spite of the micromanagement that goes on with those two people,” he said, refer- ring to Fulton and Hunsinger. Fulton, elected in in 2013, painted a bleaker picture of the Port, saying the agency has disregarded long-term main- tenance and regulatory compliance. Hellberg vs. Rohne Hellberg, who served three terms on the Warrenton City Commission before stepping down in 2014, said part of what galvanized him to run were com- ments by Port Commission Chairman Robert Mushen last year advising the Port Commission not to take sides in the Columbia River gillnetting issue. Hell- berg has commercially fished for more than 50 years on the Columbia River and in Alaska. “The first job is to help create jobs in our area, not to put them down, and cer- tainly (to) support our traditional indus- tries,” Hellberg said. Along with fishing, Hellberg is a marine surveyor, served in the U.S. Marine Corps, taught in Knappa and Warrenton-Hammond school districts, served as principal of Fort Stevens Junior High School until 1980 and later served on the Warrenton-Hammond School Board. In his youth, Hellberg worked on Port property in a flour mill, in can- neries and as a longshoreman. He said the Port needs to capitalize on its posi- tion at the mouth of the Columbia and promote living-wage jobs beyond the tourist industry, which he added result in high employment but low pay and workers struggling to make ends meet. Asked why he applied for the same position as Rohne, Hellberg said he had to oppose someone. “I know he was on the County Com- mission,” Hellberg said of Rohne. “I can’t say I’m a fan of what the County Commission has done over the last few years.” Rohne, who owns and operates Brownsmead Island Farm, filed last month for the election, saying his hope is to bring an intelligent and indepen- dent approach that will help the Port build stability, public trust and positive working relationships with local, state and national partners. O’Grady vs. Spence O’Grady, an auto mechanic, farmer in Cornelius and a local longshoreman for the past several years, said he filed for the Port to improve transparency at the agency and to make sure the Port better follows the bylaws. “The bylaws have not been fol- lowed,” he said, echoing a common argument by Fulton. Spence, who moved to Astoria in 2013, said his newness could help avoid the friction that has plagued the Port Commission. A city manager for about 45 years at six different cities in Flor- ida, Spence said he has experience with multimillion-dollar budgets and inter- facing with elected boards. Dick Hellberg Dirk Rohne
