UNKNOWNS SURROUND NEW PRISON DIRECTIVES

Local jail and probation officials are taking a wait-and-see approach to
new prosecution policies that will re-emphasize petty theft, de-emphasize
minor drug crimes and reduce the number of offenders put on probation.

The policies, announced Wednesday by Lane County District Attorney Alex
Gardner, come at a time when jail officials are implementing a sweeping
overhaul of their inmate management system and fewer than three dozen
probation officers are struggling to keep tabs on 3,000 offenders under
supervision in Lane County.

The new prosecution policies, the jail overhaul and the probation overload
are all driven by budget cutting that compels public safety agencies to
give ground to nonviolent property criminals and drug addicts in order to
hold the line on high-risk violent offenders, officials said Thursday.

When one part of the system retreats, it can drastically affect other
agencies, they said.

In parole and probation for example, Gardner's directive to put fewer
offenders on probation could have cut deeply into state funding for the
crucial local service.

After conferring with the agency, Gardner added provisions to increase
post-prison supervision of offenders who didn't get probation - effectively
reducing his caseload while minimizing the impact on the already strapped
parole and probation budget.

"What Alex is doing, that's the way to do it. We're all working together,"
Lane County Parole and Probation Supervisor Susan McFarland said. "It's
forcing us to try new things, based on the funding level. We have to put
our priorities into public risk and let some of the other stuff go."

At the Lane County Jail, where 19 inmates were released because of
overcrowding on the day Gardner announced his new policies, Sheriff's Lt.
Bob Hickok said there is no way to predict the impact of the policies on
jail operations.

He noted that retired District Attorney Doug Harcleroad, in order to
balance his budget, discontinued prosecution of petty theft and 100 other
nonviolent crimes in May. Gardner's new policy restarts prosecution of
about 2,000 cases annually for theft, fraud, car break-ins and other
property crimes that had been discontinued.

"Prior to May, we were getting these people anyway. We handled it before. I
think we can handle it again," Hickok said.

In the near future, however, they will be handled differently, he added.

A new Defender/Offender Management Center will replace the so-called
"matrix" release system, which currently controls jail overcrowding by
releasing inmates based on their current charge and past record.

The DOMC system will assign a risk rating to all inmates in the jail,
Forest Work Camp and work release center. When fully operational at the end
of the year, the system will control overcrowding by moving inmates among
the various facilities to release the lowest risk offenders and keep the
more dangerous in jail beds.

Low-risk inmates, such as those who will arrive under Gardner's new
policies, may be put on a waiting list to report to the work release center
or work camp when space is available, Hickok said.

"If they're low-risk offenders, we won't be putting them in jail anyway,"
he said.

The new policies also may indirectly affect how police officers choose to
handle low-level offenders, Hickok added. Officers, aware that 70 percent
of suspects brought to the jail are released within 24 hours anyway, often
decide to cite offenders to appear in court rather than spend the time to
take them through book-in at the jail.

Eugene police records show that has happened during the past five years
with felony drug dealing and possession cases, for example.

In 1999, Eugene officers took 52.5 percent of those offenders to jail. The
number fell to 45.3 percent in 2001. So far this year, Eugene officers are
taking 37 percent of drug offenders to jail. The figure does not count
cases involving less than an ounce of marijuana.

"This is a matter of us deciding where we can have the most bang for the
buck," Gardner said Thursday. "We need to do it all, but we can't. I wish
the public understood how grim it is."

He said the policies, and the informal public survey that helped shape
them, are an effort to respond to community priorities.

"This isn't a punitive response. It's a pragmatic response," Gardner said.

The policies will take effect Sept. 1 and should be fully operating by late
fall.