SALEM, Ore. - Oregon prison analysts predict an increase of at least 2,000 inmates over the next decade. That forecast comes just as a blue-ribbon panel is looking into ways to cut prison costs. Its members gathered in person for the first time Friday.
Since voters passed Measure 11 in 1994, Oregon has dramatically ramped up spending on prisons. And as the state's crime rate drops, corrections spending is eating up a larger portion of the state budget. Governor John Kitzhaber convened a panel led by Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul de Muniz and former Governor Ted Kulongoski. The commission has until just mid-December to issue a report on how to streamline corrections spending. Kulongoski says it's a tough job.
Ted Kulongoski: "I think what our challenge is, is not just doing the same thing over and over, but actually bringing to the public choices about more fiscally responsible ways that we can keep them safe."
Oregon's District attorneys sounded a cautionary note about the commission's work. The group issued a statement urging the panel not to push for drastic changes to the state's sentencing laws.
Copyright 2011 Northwest News Network
On the web:
Governor's Commission on Public Safety:
http://www.ocjc.state.or.us/CJC/CommPubSaf.shtml
Latest prison population forecast:
http://www.oea.das.state.or.us/DAS/OEA/docs/prison/DOCForecast201110.pdf
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