Turn Wapato into Oregon's next prison
By The Oregonian Editorial Board
February 23, 2010, 5:36PM
In 2004, we wrote that it would be short-sighted -- the word we actually used was "nuts" -- for the state of Oregon to build any new prisons while Wapato was sitting empty.
Six years later, the $58 million jail still has never been opened. And the state is still looking, primarily, in other directions. Since 2004, in fact, the state has opened prisons in Lakeview and Madras, and expanded two in North Bend and Wilsonville. But, admittedly, these plans were already in the pipeline.
A few weeks ago, however, the state Department of Corrections made a new decision with the net effect of steering away from Wapato, at least until the 2011 legislative session, and ultimately pointing more perhaps toward Junction City.
And that doesn't make much sense. Few prisons are sited, of course, strictly for reasons of sense or efficiency. If they were, most would wind up in the metro area, because that is where most prisoners are from (and where they will return).
No, the reality is that prisons equate to jobs, and small towns in Oregon are hungrier for state jobs than the metro area seems to be. The result, thus, is a farflung state prison system -- from Tillamook to Ontario -- that imposes cruel hardships on inmates' families if they hope to visit. (It's "a nightmare," several corrections officials privately acknowledged this week.)
Why should we care? Because cementing inmate ties to family can smooth re-entry and reduce recidivism rates. That's the crucial backdrop the state Department of Corrections seems to overlook when it evaluates Wapato. True, the forecasted need for state prison beds has fallen, but more beds are likely to be needed by 2013. And Wapato is the most logical place to put them.
This is not to let Multnomah County off the hook. The county can go far to make Wapato a more attractive possibility for the state by dropping its opposition to selling the jail, rather than leasing it.
The county should also be aggressively pursuing other options, from a regional jail to a regional drug and alcohol treatment facility. The best news we've had about Wapato in years, in fact, is that the Citizens Crime Commission recently pledged to examine all the alternatives for rescuing the county from what the commission director called a "national embarrassment."
It is. This year, county taxpayers will spend roughly $5 million on debt service for this white elephant. But the truth is that the state bears some responsibility, too. In 1995, Senate Bill 1145 gave counties more responsibility for housing inmates, at a moment when Multnomah County was fearfully short on jail space. The state, thereby, did its own part to sell voters on the need for a new jail.
Although the 525-bed Wapato would require some renovation to turn it into a prison, it would be one of the best places in Oregon to put "re-entry" prisoners, in particular. Of 5,027 prisoners released from prison last year, 2,190 -- that is, nearly half -- headed home to counties in the Portland area.
A state that already pays $130 million per biennium on debt service for prisons shouldn't invest another cent on a new one, not when Wapato is available.
The biggest hurdle to building a new prison in the Portland area is, after all, siting it. And, with Wapato, that problem -- at least -- has already been overcome.
