A12
Wallowa County Chieftain
NEWS
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Push for Umatilla County jail improvements benefi ts county
By Phil Wright and
Antonio Sierra
East Oregonian
While this isn’t always
the case, when the topic of
funding for jails and mental
health facilities becomes an
issue, what’s good for Uma-
tilla County is good for Wal-
lowa County. It’s no secret
that the Umatilla County
jail system is also utilized
by none other than Wallowa
County.
It isn’t a matter of Wal-
lowa County not having its
own jail. It does. And recent
statistics show that local
crime rates are on par if not
lower than state and national
averages.
But since at least 2016
Wallowa County has made
use of the Umatilla County
Jail system. In 2016, we
reported that Wallowa
County Sheriff Steve Rogers
indicated that the 12 cell jail
in Wallowa County along
with inadequate Human
Resources required the use
of Umatilla County’s jail.
Simply put, it was more
effi cient for both parties if
Wallowa County paid an
annual fee for the Umatilla
County Jail to open its doors
to the needs of Wallowa
County.
Republican Rep. Greg
Smith out of Heppner plans
to bring his deal-making
magic to fund the Umatilla
County Jail’s $1.6 million
mental health remodel.
“That’s my No. 1 prior-
ity,” Smith said on Tuesday.
And he’s not alone.
Umatilla County Com-
missioner George Murdock
said a group comprised of
Umatilla County, the city of
Pendleton, Blue Mountain
Community College and
other local organizations is
also pushing for jail reno-
vation funding, in addition
to BMCC’s Blue Mountain
Regional Training Center
project, which is already fea-
tured in Gov. Kate Brown’s
budget proposal.
“‘Optimistic’ is the
Staff photo by Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
A newly arrived inmate sleeps in a Umatilla County Jail recreation room on Monday because no holding cells in the intake
department are available.
word,” he said about the
two projects’ legislative
prospects.
Interestingly, Smith rep-
resents District 57, and the
Pendleton jail is in Dis-
trict 58, which Republi-
can Greg Barreto of Cove
represents. But Smith said
the mental health needs in
Umatilla and Morrow coun-
ties transcend boundaries
and affect his district as well
as others.
Smith, in his 20th year
representing District 57 in
the Oregon House. During
the 2018 short legislative
session he delivered on get-
ting $1 million from the
Joint Ways and Means Com-
mittee’s capital construction
subcommittee for the Herm-
iston Chamber of Com-
‘NOW I HAVE A BETTER
UNDERSTANDING OF IT AND I’VE
BEEN DILIGENTLY TALKING TO ALL
OUR LOCAL LEGISLATORS.’
Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan
merce. The county jail in
that go-round did not make
the cut.
Smith said this ses-
sion, he is working on lin-
ing up money from the right
fund for the project. Mental
health is a statewide issue,
he said, and public safety
personnel need the tools to
deal with people in a crisis.
Umatilla County Sher-
iff Terry Rowan sees it that
way. He has been pushing
to revamp the jail to bet-
ter accommodate offend-
ers who have mental ill-
ness. Last year he pitched
the need for state funds to
that capital construction
subcommittee, but that did
not pan out. He explained
he had two days notice to
testify before the subcom-
mittee and understood he
would get to speak for two
or three minutes. He said he
sent lawmakers information
fi rst, but when he arrived
he found out he would get
to testify for two minutes
total. He also went at it
alone.
“Now I have a better
understanding of it and
I’ve been diligently talking
to all our local legislators,”
Rowan said.
State Sen. Bill Hansell,
R-Athena, and Barreto also
support the project. Smith
said Rowan has taken the
lead for why the renovation
matters, and it shows.
“I think every police
chief in the two counties has
reached out to me as well,”
he said. “There’s been (a) lot
of collaboration over the last
12 months.”
The county board of
commissioners are keen on
the plan, and so is the work-
ing group comprised of local
leaders.
A jail modifi cation plan
provided
by
Murdock
details the county’s $1.6
million ask.
Originally completed in
1999, the jail has seen its
average daily population rise
from 135 inmates to 219.
Although the plan states
that the county is seeing a
benefi t from jailing more
people, the jail is also expe-
riencing an increase in vio-
lent offenders and inmates
dealing with mental health
or substance abuse issues.
“As a jail facility, in addi-
tion to our primary duties of
providing a safe and secure
environment for staff and
inmates, we are providing
more and more social ser-
vices to our inmates than
ever before, such as men-
tal health treatment, coun-
seling, and drug and alco-
hol addiction programs,”
the plan states. “Many of
these services we are not
trained, equipped or funded
to provide.”
Attached to the report
are photos showing inmates
with special needs sleeping
in the male and female rec-
reation rooms.
The report states that the
county would use the money
increase capacity at its book-
ing area to alleviate the bot-
tleneck of inmates during
intake and creating nine new
cells for detox, medical, and
holding purposes. All of this
would be done within the
jail’s existing footprint.
With the session start-
ing next week, Rowan said
he plans to talk with some
of the subcommittee mem-
bers about the proposal and
not just during testimony.
Rowan is the vice president
of the Oregon State Sheriff’s
Association, which holds
an executive meeting each
month. He said he aims to
coordinate that with meeting
with lawmakers.
Wallowa County Chief-
tain editor Christian
Ambroson contributed to
this report
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