CONTROL DISPUTE REAPPEARS AT JAIL MEETING

A Gathering Called By County Chairwoman Beverly Stein Hits
Persistent Problems Including Who Runs Substance Abuse Treatment

If it's not one problem with the jail planned along North Portland's
Bybee Lake, it's another.

First, it was about protecting the natural environment. Then came the
issue of how many additional beds would be in the medium-security facility.

Toss in some angry residents from St. Johns, various lawsuits and a
county Board of Commissioners that can't reach agreement on any aspect
of the jail's future.

What do you have? A mess.

The county held an informal board gathering Thursday to work out some
issues surrounding the siting of the 225-bed jail. What it turned into
was a free-for-all debate that left some commissioners shaking their
heads and sent audience members into the halls afterward muttering
about how long it might take to even get the site approved.

"We have a new acronym for this thing -- MCNCJ. It stands for
Multnomah County New Carissa Jail," said Sheriff Dan Noelle, referring
to the ship that ran aground near Coos Bay earlier this year.

"I think the plan will come together, but I'm very frustrated right
now. Every time the discussion picks up about the jail, this thing
comes back with something different attached to it."

Jurisdictional Debate

The meeting was called by board Chairwoman Beverly Stein to help solve
a dilemma of how to handle roughly 300 alcohol and drug treatment beds
the county is considering placing at the jail.

But a debate over who would be in charge of those beds has been raging
for weeks.

Noelle supports putting the beds at the jail but wants to be in charge
of the security. He also doesn't want to have transitional housing
beds there as part of the treatment facility because it would break
promises the county made to North Portlanders.

Elyse Clawson, the director of the county's Adult Community Justice
department, wants the jail and the treatment facility to be run
separately. Drug and alcohol treatment would last a minimum of three
months and a maximum of six months under her plan.

Both Noelle and Clawson's staff presented proposals for how to operate
each of the facilities at the Bybee Lake site.

But after the presentations, a county attorney pointed out a new
wrinkle: If the county puts the jail and the treatment beds in the
same facility, it could create constitutional problems for inmates who
have served out their sentences.

For example, if someone were sentenced to drug treatment at the
facility for six months but didn't successfully complete the program,
the inmate could legally argue that his sentence had been completed.

Clawson argued that if the treatment beds are run as a separate
residential treatment program, then the inmate couldn't make that argument.

"I think we're as concerned about community security as anyone else
is," Clawson said after the meeting. "We feel this needs to be a
treatment focused program, and we're going to try to work out the
legal questions."

Cruz Pushes For Decision

Commissioner Serena Cruz asked that a decision be made soon, urging
her colleagues to put the treatment beds at the facility and work out
a compromise. "We can get moving and within months start construction,
or we could spend more time, more taxpayer dollars, and get stuck
again," Cruz said.

Voters passed a general obligation bond in 1996 to build a
medium-security jail. The Bybee Lake site became the top choice after
another site got rejected.

That's much to the chagrin of a number of St. Johns residents who
oppose the jail going up in their neighborhood and have sued the
county on a number of fronts.

A tiff between Noelle and Clawson over who will control the alcohol
and drug treatment beds led the board to split the two facilities last
year. But now some board members want to see the treatment beds back
on the same land as the jail.

Stein has struggled to lead the board toward an agreement about the
facility.

Clawson said she's hopeful about reaching a compromise with
Noelle.

"I know I'm going to try to come up with one," she said. "There's a
lot riding on this because the general voting public is probably as
supportive or more supportive of alcohol and drug treatment than they
are a jail."