Community Corrections often functions like a revolving door to incarceration rather than a path for people to find stability. With approximately 26,000 adults living in Oregon who are on supervision, we must continue to ask: Who are we supervising, and why?
Oregon cannot afford to keep people in the system longer than necessary. The use of probation and post-prison supervision, also known as community supervision, costs $15.09 per person, per day, which is ten times cheaper than incarceration. However, community supervision can fuel mass incarceration by trapping people in a cycle of surveillance under the threat of incarceration due to arbitrary restrictions.
Currently, one in 61 people across the United States are under correctional control, according to the Punishment Beyond Prisons 2026: Incarceration and Supervision by State by the Prison Policy Initiative.
Community supervision should set people up for success, not failure. Through intentional implementation and reform in Oregon, grassroots leaders, in partnership with the Department of Corrections, are reducing the number of people under supervision through Oregon’s Earned Discharge Program. By engaging in both legislative advocacy and hands-on implementation, these partners have turned shared values of accountability and stability into a reality.
Oregon’s Earned Discharge Program creates a consistent pathway for people on probation and post-prison supervision to earn a reduction in their sentence through good behavior and compliance. By prioritizing stability and restoration over punishment, this model promotes accountability and allows people to rebuild their lives and contribute to society, which ultimately keeps us all safer.
In 2023, the Transforming Justice Coalition, composed of public safety advocates and justice-impacted leaders, partnered with the Oregon Department of Corrections to successfully advocate for Senate Bill 581. The law expanded the Earned Discharge Program in order to create consistent rules for eligibility and reach more people on supervision. The new law allows people on probation, post-prison supervision, or serving local jail sentences with eligible sentences, to reduce their supervision terms by up to half if they meet specific goals.
Multiple members of Transforming Justice have benefited from Senate Bill 581, completing their supervision early and moving forward with their lives free of correctional control. Imagine having a three-year probation reduced to 18 months because supervision is no longer needed for someone who is law-abiding and meeting their goals. Gaining a clearer understanding of how to complete probation at the halfway point, receiving regular feedback on progress and growth opportunities, and working collaboratively toward a success plan have contributed to a fresh start for thousands of Oregonians.
By expanding the number of people who qualify for earned discharge, Transforming Justice worked to ensure definitions associated with eligibility are clear, as simple as possible, and not open to interpretation. With a consistent system that incentivizes success, people on community supervision receive a clear roadmap with their parole and probation officer to identify barriers and goals. They work together on an individualized pathway to success.
Since taking effect in 2024, Senate Bill 581 has demonstrated the power of collaborative relationships between the Transforming Justice Coalition and the state by drastically reducing the number of people on community supervision. Between 2018 and 2022, early discharge numbers remained stagnant at roughly 1,800 cases per year. Following the implementation of Senate Bill 581, the early discharge number surged to nearly 5,300 cases in 2024 and remains strong with 4,918 completed cases in 2025.
This illustrates the power of collaborative implementation. We see improved outcomes for individuals, which improves community safety, trust in the public safety system, and thus a better return on investment. Probation officers also have lower caseloads and can provide better quality service. This is especially important for folks with medium to high risk levels of supervision, and made possible as more and more low risk supervision folks discharge successfully off supervision and move forward in their lives.
But there is still work to be done. There can be a more intentional effort to make sure that the people most overrepresented by the public safety system — people of color — are equitably represented in these successful outcomes. And this effort highlights an opportunity to build on. The momentum of directly impacted people working together with system stakeholders can be replicated. This success is a model for Oregon, and for the rest of the country.
Babak Zolfaghari-Azar is senior policy manager at Partnership for Safety and Justice, a statewide nonprofit advocating for accountability, racial equity and healing in the public safety and criminal justice systems. He has been engaged in criminal justice policy work and has served justice-involved youth and families for over a dozen years.
This article appears in June 3, 2026.