Inside Oregon
Basic Facts About Prison and Oregon
May 19, 2008 - 2:06pm| Number of Prisons | 14 Prisons – The newest, Deer Ridge in Madras, opened in 2007 with a capacity of 1,867 beds. |
| Number of Prisoners | 13,614 people as of May 1, 2008. |
| Women Prisoners | 1,073 of Oregon’s prisoners were women as of May 1, 2008. |
| Future Prisons | A new prison at Junction City will have 1,794 beds. Construction start date will be summer 2009. |
| State Population | 3,700,758 (based on 2006 estimates from the US Census) |
| DOC Budget | The Department of Corrections budget for the 2007-09 biennium is approximately $1.3 billion. |
| DOC Website | The ODOC website has extensive statistics, policy and budget information, along with visiting information organized by prison. Some statistics are updated monthly. |
| Newspapers | The main newspapers in the state that cover stories related to prisons and Corrections policy are the Oregonian and the Statesman Journal. You can see a fairly complete list of Oregon newspapers here. |
| Racial Disparity | Although Black/African-American people make up less than 2% of Oregon's population, they make up 10% of Oregon's prison population. |
Major Public Safety Policy Package Passes House and Senate
June 26, 2009 - 10:36amA Significant Step toward a Smarter Criminal Justice System
PSJ has played an active role in this legislative session working with legislators and public safety stakeholders to identify policy reforms that maintain and even strengthen public safety while saving money in the process. Many of the policy reforms that PSJ advocates for are included in HB 3508, a landmark omnibus public safety bill that just passed the House and the Senate.
Ways and Means Hearing Update
May 5, 2009 - 2:13pm We want to say a big thank you to everyone who attended the Ways and Means budget hearings over the past week. The hearings wrapped up last Friday in Eugene, and PSJ members took our message to legislators in spoken and written testimony to six different hearings around the state.
Legislators Create Omnibus Criminal Justice Bill
May 2, 2009 - 9:53amJune 26, 2009 Update: See article below.
June 24, 2009 Update: House Bill 2335A is no longer the vehicle for the omnibus savings bill. It is now in House Bill 3508. House Democratic leadership is still working to get the necessary 2/3 votes together for the bill. In the meantime, the Ways and Means sub-committee on Public Safety has started making cuts to the budget since a vote last week on HB 3508 failed by two votes. House Bill 3508 is awaiting reconsideration in the House. House Bill 2290 is still active.
Governor Proposes 2009 – 2011 Budget
December 10, 2008 - 4:06pm The Governor’s Recommended Budget for the next biennium was released in early December. Due to the recession, the state projects a $1.2 billion shortfall in revenue. The budget includes cuts in many areas like community-mental health care and services to survivors of crime and violence.
