On August 6 in a regularly scheduled 1:30 pm Deschutes County Board of Commissioners work session, a plan to expand the Deschutes County Adult Jail by 144 beds was unanimously approved by Commissioner Tammy Baney, Commissioner Tony DeBone and Commissioner Alan Unger.
In May 2010 a general obligation bond for $45 million dollars to increase jail space by more than 73,000 square feet and an additional 300 beds was defeated. Since that time, the need for additional jail beds to adequately manage the adult population has not diminished.
“When the May, 2010 bond issue was defeated, the taxpayers of Deschutes County indicated they understood the need for additional jail beds but wanted the Sheriff’s Office and Deschutes County to put together a plan where additional tax money was not needed,” according to Sheriff Larry Blanton.
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office operates the only jail in Deschutes County. Current adult jail capacity is 228 jail beds. In addition to the 228 jail beds, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office is currently renting 10 beds from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. An average of 16 people are booked into the Deschutes County facility each day, with a total of approximately 6,000 on an annual basis.
Sheriff Blanton said, “Our ability to adequately and safely manage our inmate population with a history of assaultive behavior, medical issues, mental health issues and co-defendant, judicial issues is critical.”
The plan that was adopted and approved by the Commissioners yesterday is essentially a phased-in version of the original 73,000 square foot addition proposal that would allow the Sheriff’s Office to provide adequate jail beds for years to come.
Deschutes County obtained a professional engineer’s opinion about what 144 additional beds would potentially cost. The bid estimates will not be released at this time to more adequately and fairly obtain competitive bids during the bid process.
It has been determined by the Deschutes County Commissioners and Deschutes County Sheriff Blanton that the debt service for a full-faith credit bond could be satisfied through a combination of Deschutes County general fund and current Sheriff’s Office budget.
“For Deschutes County and the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office to put together a plan to adequately manage public safety in Deschutes County by expanding our adult jail needs without asking the public for additional funding is a great accomplishment,” Sheriff Blanton said.
“In the next few months, we will be putting together the final design plan with an estimated total construction time of 18-24 months.”
