Population Forecast Predicts Short-Term Increase

The Office of Economic Analysis prepares a 10-year prison population forecast every October and April so the Department of Corrections can plan for future bed demands. The April forecast predicts the prison population will grow from 7,877 on January 1, 1998 to 14,158 on January 1, 2008. As forecast in October, 1997, the inmate population will nearly double over the next decade.
The current forecast is higher than the previous forecast in the first three years (1998 - 2001) and lower in the last five years. According to Director Dave Cook, the department has several options it may use to manage the near-term population rise, including continued use of rental beds or the acceleration of occupancy at Snake River Correctional Institution.
The forecast, once disaggregated (broken out by gender, custody level, etc.) by the department, is very useful in budgeting and planning. For example, later this month the department expects to fine tune its building schedule based on the forecasted numbers and also use this forecast as the foundation for the corrections budget request for the next biennium.

 
Inmate Work Programs Highlights

• Under an expanded partnership with the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation, Inmate Work Programs built and delivered 71 yurt foundations, 31 cabins, furniture to outfit 71 yurts and 31 cabins, 300 picnic tables, 300 fire rings, and 673 signs since February. The partnership will continue through the biennium, with orders for boat docks and other products and services to outfit and maintain Oregon´s state parks.

 

• Inmate Work Program´s Mill Creek Laundry, located inside Oregon State Penitentiary, processes more than 30,000 pounds of laundry each day and is the third largest commercial laundry in the state.

 

• Working with housing staff from Oregon State University, Inmate Work Programs developed a new line of reception area seating for dormitories. The "Beaver Creek" line of chairs and couches features easily replaceable components and upholstery, allowing dorm managers to repair damaged or worn pieces with simple household tools.

 

• Inmate Work Programs´ Annual Report is now available. Contact Nancy DeSouza at (503) 373-7604, ext. 236, if you would like a copy.

 

• The week ending February 28, 57 percent of eligible inmates were in full compliance with Measure 17, 26 percent were in partial compliance and 17 percent were idle. Shutter Creek Correctional Institution had the highest compliance rate: a whopping 96 percent of its 250 inmates were in full compliance. In raw numbers, Oregon State Penitentiary had the highest number (1075 or 65 percent) in full compliance.

 
Intake Center ID´s Gang Members

One of the many important activities during intake at Oregon Corrections Intake Center (OCIC) is identification of gang members. A significant increase in gang members, gang activities and a recent gang-related assault provided the impetus for two staff to ask permission to revisit, update and enhance procedures for identifying and housing gang members.

 
As a result of the review, some gang identification activities were consolidated, work responsibilities were adjusted and the two staff members added most gang management responsibilities to their workloads. Every day the list of incoming inmates is compared with gang information available from DOC´s database and other criminal justice sources. Now each arriving transport of inmates is met by one or both of the gang managers. They inspect inmate property for gang material, locate and photograph gang tattoos, interview suspected and known gang members, and search cells while those inmates are in the intake center.
Larry Daniels, administrator, Intake and Assessment firmly believes that gang management activities have made OCIC and other institutions safer places. "When gang members are identified and dealt with appropriately, assaults are prevented, medical costs reduced, and recruitment of new gang members is curtailed."

 
Death Row Statistics

 
With the admission of Billy Lee Oatney to Death Row on Monday, April 6, Oregon has 21 inmates sentenced to die. One is Native American, two are Hispanics and 18 are White. The average age is 37.1. Four inmates are from Multnomah and Washington counties followed by three each for Clackamas and Douglas counties. Coos County has two and Klamath, Lane, Marion, Deschutes and Jackson counties each have one.
Wilsonville Update

 
As you are probably aware, the governor directed the department and other relevant state agencies to work with the City of Wilsonville to consider the alternative Wilsonville site further. The preliminary evaluation conducted in February focused on the costs in terms of dollars and delays. The refined analysis will include, for example, additional physical studies of the property, consideration of legal questions, the ability to secure infrastructure agreements, and a plan to acquire the property in the most equitable fashion possible.
While the experts are conducting their analyses, a concurrent effort to educate and inform the public about the developments is underway. The department is paying particular attention to people living on or near the new site. By the end of April, the department hopes to meet individually with every person who owns or lives on the land proposed for the site. Additionally, the department, along with a representative from the city, plans to schedule individual visits to neighbors of the site to listen to their questions and concerns. Some public discussions are scheduled or on the drawing board including a Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting on April 24, a Prison Advisory Committee meeting in May and a yet-to-be scheduled open house for the public to ask questions, pick up printed information and view exhibits.