Copyright The Oregonian
Multnomah County will spend some of its rainy-day funds to save a key pretrial release program that keeps those accused of a crime out of jail until their trial, freeing up limited jail beds for the most high-risk offenders. The county Board of Commissioners approved a $1.36 million contingency fund request from the Sheriff’s Office last week, allowing Close Street Supervision to operate until the end of the fiscal year and buying officials time to ramp down the program. Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell told the board in September that a $1.4 million cut to state funding for county jail beds would force her to end the pretrial supervision program to fill the budget gap. While the contingency funds will keep the program open for now, it’s unclear what will happen to the program at the end of the fiscal year in June. The county has two pretrial release programs. The first is run through its Department of Community Justice and takes people who are determined to be at low risk to miss their court dates or go on to commit another crime. Those who are deemed a higher risk to public safety are entered into Close Street, which is designed to have more robust supervision. Close Street has suffered from an unmanageable caseload and limited supportive services for those in the program, according to Sarah Mullen, executive director of the Local Public Safety Coordinating Council. As of Sept. 24, 624 people were participating in the program — more than double the number that were in it in fall 2022. Records show the program has eight full-time employees working on those cases. In September, 973 of the county’s 1,130 jail beds were full on average each day, according to a jail report. Commissioners Meghan Moyer and Julia Brim-Edwards proposed a budget note asking the Local Public Safety Coordinating Council subcommittee for pretrial release to bring recommendations on alternative programs or ways to transition away from Close Street to the board. “It seems that there’s agreement that the current system is not the way to do it,” Brim-Edwards said Thursday. “Hopefully the result of this budget note and the work of the pre-trial subcommittee and (the public safety council) will provide this commission with some potentially game changing ways to look at how pretrial services are offered here.” The move comes after the board approved budget modifications that included reductions across several areas, including the Public Health Division, Youth and Family Services Division and Department of Community Justice, to address budget shortfalls. The county on Thursday will consider cuts to the Homeless Services Department, which is facing a steep fiscal deficit due to state funding cuts. More fiscal slashes could come down the road as federal funding remains unstable. The county has lost over $1 million in federal grants so far this year, records show.
