Oregon has broadly changed its sentencing and corrections system, cut costs and stabilized its prison population since the enactment of legislation, according to a Pew Charitable Trust report.
The report quoted then-Gov. John Kitzhaber as saying in 2012, “With Oregon’s biennial corrections budget now exceeding $1.4 billion, we can no longer delay improvements to our corrections system here in Oregon. It’s time for us to re-examine which policies are working and fix those that are not providing a clear benefit to our public safety.”
The new legislation, House Bill 3194, aims to prioritize prison beds for serious and violent criminals, initiate practices to reduce recidivism and establish objective measures of the criminal justice system and the use of corrections dollars.
According to the Nov. 1 report, from 2000 to 2012 Oregon’s prison population had grown from fewer than 9,500 inmates to more than 14,000, and from a cost of $976 million to $1.3 billion a year. “At the same time, funding was cut for critical public safety programs, including state police, county sheriffs, community corrections and victim services.”
Under the new law, many nonviolent offenders now can serve shorter times of incarceration and be effectively supervised without jeopardizing public safety, Pew reported.
The resulting cost savings can be used for the most expensive correctional resources, including prison for serious and violent offenders.
The new law’s projected savings will allow the state to postpone reopening shuttered facilities and shelve plans to build an additional prison, Pew said. It is expected to save $17 million during the 2013-2015 budget cycle and projections for the next budget cycle will save as much as $67 million.
Some of the primary goals of the new law are:
“Ensure prison beds are focused on serious violent offenders.”
“Promote sustainable use of corrections resources.”
“Reinvest in Oregon’s public safety system.”
Though it will take several years for the full impact of HB 3194 to be known, the report said the signs are promising, and the number of inmates will grow less than 4 percent over the next 10 years.
