Alternate cuts keep inmates in prisons.

Byline: DAVID STEVES The Register-Guard

SALEM - Of all the cuts put in place should voters reject Measure 28, it was the proposed release of 3,300 state inmates and the closure of five prisons that seemed most unbelievable.

And now that Measure 28 has failed, state politicians and corrections officials are taking pains to make it clear that no such cut will take place.

However, some local jails throughout Oregon that are losing $7 million from the state have already released inmates, including more than 100 in Multnomah County. In Lane County, a local funding shortfall triggered the elimination last month of 35 beds and 10 deputy positions at the jail. Down the road, an additional 80 beds may be cut as further details of county and state budget shortfalls take shape, according to jail manager John Clague.

In addition, the Oregon Youth Authority is continuing with its plans to eliminate 250 beds and 264 jobs by closing juvenile lockups in Albany, Warrenton, Burns and Prineville.

As for releasing several thousand inmates from state prisons, the Department of Corrections proclaimed to great fanfare late last year that such drastic moves were the only way it could take its proportional share of the Measure 28 cut - $21 million - with only five months left in the two-year spending cycle.

"The only way we could meet the requirement was to close prisons and release inmates and lay people off as a result," department spokeswoman Perrin Damon said.

But all along, state corrections officials knew the inmates who could be most easily released before completing their sentences, from a legal standpoint, were those who'd been imprisoned for more than a decade, before voter-passed sentencing guidelines and mandatory-minimum terms, Damon said.

Those inmates were poor candidates for early release "because they were in here for pretty bad crimes," she said.

But to release more recently sentenced inmates serving time for less serious crimes would require seeking legislative and gubernatorial approval - something legislators and new Gov. Ted Kulongoski have made clear all along they wouldn't go for.

What's more, Kulongoski's proposed budget for 2003-05 includes money to keep all of the state's prisons open and its inmates locked up - which could have led to the politically untenable prospect of releasing inmates this month and then rounding them back up in July for re-imprisonment.

The mandate to reduce spending was lifted back in December, so the corrections department was able to hit its budget-cutting requirement through one-time reductions - rather than through cuts that could be carried into future spending cycles, said Cindy Becker at the state Department of Administrative Services.

Instead of turning prisoners loose, the Department of Corrections now plans to meet its budget-cutting requirements by:

Laying off 14 administrative and support staff employees

Canceling 70 service contracts with outside programs such as Chemeketa Community College 

Reworking the ledger to reflect savings from an earlier hiring freeze 

Applying savings from lower-than-budgeted costs to build a new prison in Wilsonville

Delaying spending for uniforms and other inventory purchases

Suspending construction of prisons that were to be built in the 2001-03 budget cycle in Madras and Lakeview. A prison slated to be built in Junction City in the 2003-05 budget period also is on hold.

As a result of these alternate cuts, Damon said, a growing number of inmates will be housed in emergency and temporary beds, but none will be released early and no prisons will close.

The same can't be said, however, for juvenile offenders - prompting some people to question why violent criminals are being let go, based solely on their age.

"That's a real hot-button issue for me," said Steve Doell, head of the Oregon Crime Victims United advocacy group and a father whose daughter was murdered by a teen-ager. "These kids pose serious public safety risks and I don't think it should be acceptable to the public."

He said the juveniles in state Youth Authority lockups are too young to be in the adult system, but "aren't there for stealing a six-pack of Coke or doing graffiti. They're there for 10, 12 felony crimes" apiece, often including rapes, assaults and other violent crimes.

"They've been through counseling, local detention, treatment, everything," Doell said, "and finally the juvenile judge says, `We've got to lock you down.' '

Karen Andall, spokeswoman for the OYA, said those juvenile offenders being released will remain under the authority's supervision through parole, in hopes of minimizing their risk to public safety.