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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
GUEST COLUMNS
Clatsop County
jail woes
1976 $2.1 million bond passes to
construct a 76-bed jail. County
leaders seek federal funds to
supplement construction costs.
Double-digit inflation eventually
reduces available funds, resulting in
design reduction to 29 beds.
1980
Current
facility
opens.
1983 Jail
double-
bunked
increasing
capacity 45 inmates.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The county hopes to use the old youth detention facility near Warrenton for an expanded new jail.
1985 Further double bunking,
conversion of gym into laundry
facility and dormitory.
Please vote ‘yes’ on Measure 4-195
1986 Population reduced to 22 beds
due to financial hardships.
A
1988 County passes new tax base
increasing budgeted capacity to 45
inmates.
s your elected sheriff of Clatsop
County, I have always tried to do what
is right for the majority of the people.
This includes everyone, no matter what walk of
life they may come from.
I can tell you all kinds of stories related
to having an inadequate jail and the lack of
accountability. We have more than 1,500
outstanding warrants. I can tell you people are
released on a daily basis who
consistently get out just hours
or days after being arrested,
then commit additional crimes
at every level from shoplifting
to domestic violence to
murder.
TOM
I can tell you the vulner-
BERGIN
able, mentally ill and those
with drug dependencies
default to the jail, where we do our best to take
care of them — however, again due to lack of
space, programs or proper treatment, real help
is never fulfilled.
I can tell you the current jail was originally
built for 29 inmates. It was overcrowded the
day it opened almost 40 years ago in 1980.
Every study (four) over the last 20 years
has stated we need a minimum of 140 beds
with room for future expansion. We have that
opportunity now with the closing of the Oregon
Youth Authority juvenile prison in Warrenton
that was run by the state. It is in a good loca-
tion away from neighborhoods and close to the
current sheriff’s office. We would be repurpos-
ing an old building into a modern facility able
to meet the needs associated with keeping our
community safe.
This building would not only create
accountability for the incarcerated, but would
also create a safer environment for mentally
ill inmates. Most of them should not be there
in the first place, but we often have many. It
would also provide a better working environ-
ment for corrections deputies, mental health
workers, drug and alcohol counselors, lawyers,
doctors, nurses and clergy, all of whom work
within the walls helping to create a place of
rehabilitation and again accountability.
Some people say I want a remodeled jail
because of my support of Measure 105, which
would repeal the state sanctuary law. They say
I want to lock up all illegal immigrants. That is
the furthest thing from the truth. It just doesn’t
happen like that. There are still many laws in
place to protect everyone, no matter where they
come from or what they believe. I have dedi-
cated my life to protecting rights and upholding
the law. I will continue to do so as long as I
serve as your sheriff.
However, without the accountability of
incarceration — coupled with treatment and
compassion — we are just spinning our wheels
and not helping anyone to become productive,
sober or mentally balanced to integrate back
into society.
Think what you may about me, but know
I have spent 33 years serving this community
and doing my best to maintain the integrity of
the law. Clatsop County is in dire need of a jail
facility that will work with our criminal justice
partners such as the courts, mental health and
the previously mentioned numerous other
entities.
Clatsop County is a beautiful place to live
and a beautiful place to visit. If you truly want
our community to be a safer place through
accountability and compassion, please vote
“yes” on Measure 4-195 to fix our current
situation.
Thank you.
Tom Bergin is sheriff of Clatsop County.
Jail remodel is a necessity, not a luxury
I
n many ways jails are orphans. Most of its
“users,” or those directly affected by them,
are confined to the victims of more serious
crime, the officers who arrest those accused,
and the people accused of crimes.
On the November ballot coming soon to
your mailbox is Clatsop County Measure
4-195, which would autho-
rize bonds to remodel the
mothballed Oregon Youth
Authority detention facility
in Warrenton into a much-
needed county jail.
The cost to families with
JOSH
a house assessed at roughly
MARQUIS $200,000 would be about $43
a year, a fraction of what is
being asked for by local school districts and
other local districts. The difference, of course,
who does a jail actually serve?
As your elected district attorney for the last
quarter century, I can say without hesitation,
an jail is there to protect you, your family and
your neighbors. Oregon has one of the lower
incarceration rates in the nation and criminals
need to really outdo themselves to actually
get locked up. Even in more serious felony
crimes, only 30 percent of convicted felons go
to prison. That means 70 percent of convicted
felons stay in the community, may do some
local jail time and hopefully learn stealing,
selling drugs, or driving under the influence are
not good ways to live.
But even if you or your family don’t “use”
the jail, it is as necessary to a safe and livable
community as a hospital. You probably don’t
want to go there, either, but you sure want it
there if needed.
Some might say that as a career prosecutor,
of course I advocate for a jail. However this
winter, after 40 years in law enforcement, 38
years as a lawyer, and 25 years as your DA, I
will become a private citizen, who hopefully
has no more personal need for the jail as most
of you.
There many reasons this bond needs to pass.
This is the third try in 15 years. It is a likely
one-time use of an existing state facility that
might otherwise cost taxpayers twice as much.
But most importantly it is because for the entire
justice system to work, from police to proba-
tion, prosecutors to judges, drug treatment to
restraining orders, there has to be an empty
jail bed available if a judge determines it is
1999 Jail analysis study recom-
mends construction of new 140-bed
facility, expandable to 170 beds.
2002 Bond measure to replace jail
fails.
2004 Grand jury investigation and
report recommends new jail.
2004 National Institute of Correc-
tions system assessment highlights
current facility limitations, design
constraints and staffing limitations.
2005 National Sheriff’s Association
study recommends increasing staff
from 21 to 32 to meet basic needs of
facility, staff and inmates.
2008 Study by Voorhis Associates
estimates the need for a 137-bed
facility by 2020; 194 beds by 2040.
Current status
daily
80 Average
population
2,471 Bookings
459 Forced releases
Forced releases
• 18.9% of bookings end in forced
release.
•
In the first half of 2018, 236 inmates
determined as poor or dangerous
candidates for forced release.
•
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The visitation room at the Clatsop County Jail.
appropriate.
Most people arrested, even for their third
drunk driving offense, do not await trial in jail.
At a cap of 60, the jail is one-third its needed
capacity and dangerous felons are released
every week. A few years ago one of those men
murdered two young women just a few weeks
later in Portland. That should never happen.
Some people have claimed that the sheriff’s
political views should be punished by rejecting
a desperately needed public building. That is
spiteful and short-sighted. If I had a dollar for
every time a crime victim or family member
tearfully asked me why the abuser of some-
one’s spouse or child was walking free, I’d be
a rich man. Immigration cases have not been
held in the county jail for at least a decade.
It’s far too full of people charged with violent
felonies who are citizens.
There are a limited number of times the
county is willing to go to the voters for a need
like this, which many think will never impact
them. Women will be abused if their abusers
are not held in jail, children will be beaten or
worse. This is not a scare tactic. This is actual
experience, in this county.
Measure 4-195 is a modest proposal, using
the Oregon Youth Authority facility the state
abandoned. I doubt it will be usable in the same
way in four to five years.
Many people claim the jail does not affect
them because 1) their family or friends aren’t
locked up, 2) they haven’t been the victim of
a serious crime, or 3) if we don’t build a jail
crime will magically decrease. That’s called
“magical thinking” for a reason.
Do not be misled by emotion or a lack of
empathy for the victims of crime, who tend
to be women, children, and the poor, far more
than people like me.
Please join me in voting ‘yes’ on Measure
4-195.
Joshua Marquis is Clatsop County’s district
attorney.
June 2018, 50 inmates forced
released, some for the second time or
with prison sentences pending.
•
Parole and probation clients
commonly “day report” instead of
serving jail time for violations.
Proposed facility
• Oregon Youth Authority facility
closed in 2017.
• Reutilization of OYA could save
approximately 50% over building new.
• Cost is estimated at $23.8 million.
• Bond is $20 million, with county
contributing the rest from reserves and
timber funds.
• Tax rate is estimated at 21 cents per
$1000 of assessed value.
Source: Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office