Voters passed a jail inspection measure in 2022. The new policy allows a member of the public to accompany a city commissioner on the twice-annual visits.
Oregon state law requires county commissioners to inspect local jails once per year to provide public accountability and ensure officials run jails following best practices. In 2022, Multnomah County voters passed ballot measure 26-233, requiring all Multnomah County commissioners to conduct an additional inspection of each county jail every year and file a report detailing their findings. In a hot political climate, county voters passed the measure with 76% of the vote.
The new policy requires a member of the public to accompany a commissioner for the inspection, during which they can ask questions of the Multnomah County Sheriff and people held in jail. During the state-required inspection, MCSO officials take participants on a scripted tour of the jails, but the new measure allows people to talk with prisoners one-on-one.
For those interested in accompanying a board member during the inspections, applications close Sept. 15. Advocates want to stress to the community the importance of public participation.
Donovan Scribes, co-chair of the safety and justice committee for the Multnomah County charter review, spent 11 months working with a small team to develop the ballot measure.
He said three years after people flooded the streets in 2020 to demand an overhaul of policing in the United States, the county has materially invested funding into the same system people wanted to change. Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office has a $194.1 million budget this fiscal year — a $13.9 million increase from last fiscal year.
“Our county jails have not had any sort of massive overhaul since 2020,” Scribes said.
Racial disparities in Multnomah County jails are significant, and Scribes hopes the inspections can shed light on what is happening inside. Black people make up 20.7% of people booked into county jails, despite being 6.2% of the overall population in Multnomah County, according to the most recent monthly jail report. Whites make up 59.6% of bookings but are 78.1% of the county population, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics.
Scribes said direct communication with people experiencing incarceration can be crucial to creating change. As government entities focus on the data of open jail beds, average daily population and other metrics, it is impossible to read the whole story through charts and graphs.
“People's stories are data as well,” Scribes said.
Scribes said the inspections allow people to share their findings through a report. They can also impact the broader community by sharing stories of what they saw or further engaging with county commissioners.
The inspections come as Multnomah County jails are under scrutiny following the deaths of six people in county custody. Multnomah County Sheriff's Office announced a return to its open booking policy Aug. 15, meaning anyone arrested on felony or misdemeanor charges can be booked into jail. The most recent jail report shows 62% of people are held pre-trial, while the average length of stay is nearly 19 days.
“If you've ever been curious about what's happening in there, this is an opportunity for you to see firsthand,” Scribes said.
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