OREGON CITY -- Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts is pleased to announce that the remaining 46 closed beds at Clackamas County Jail re-opened on March 1, 2008.After March 1, all 84 Jail beds that were previously closed in 2002 due to staffing shortfalls are once again operating at full capacity.
Funding to open the Jail beds comes from the passage of Levy 3-246 on Nov. 7, 2006.
In November 2007, Sheriff Roberts opened 38 Jail beds, thanks to staffing efficiencies and the hiring of new Corrections deputies. The remaining 46 beds opened ahead of schedule on March 1st; the original plan called for opening all the beds at the end of March.
The November bed openings are already having an impact on public safety: The opening of 38 beds in November 2007 resulted in a 34-percent decrease in the number of inmates being freed due to overcrowding over the previous month. That means 130 offenders who would have been released due to lack of bed space remained in custody.
Sheriff Roberts is optimistic that the opening of the remaining 46 beds will further slow the forced release of offenders in Clackamas County.
INMATE WORK CREW PROGRAM SET FOR LAUNCH
Sheriff Roberts is also set to launch an "inmate work crew" program. It will employ prisoners to perform labor outside the Jail -- including trash- and graffiti-cleanup details, brush- and culvert-clearing, and other high-visibility public beautification projects. This work crew is designed to hold offenders accountable while giving back to the community.
The program is tentatively set to launch on March 28.
Sheriff Roberts wants to thank all those who supported the Sheriff’s Office and helped pass the 2006 jail levy. As he wrote in November 2007 on the Sheriff's Office Web site: "Citizen approval of the November 2006 levy, which was created thanks to input from our citizen-driven Blue Ribbon Committee -- along with aggressive hiring, employee training and keen Jail management -- have allowed us to increase our staff so those beds could be opened."