Oregon Prisoners To Occupy Cells

The state of Oregon has decided to rent up to 100 beds at the Bannock County Jail to cope with its spiraling prison population.

Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen said Wednesday that Oregon officials have agreed to pay $43 a day per inmate for the space under a three-year contract that should save county taxpayers about $4 million in upkeep and other jail expenses.

The prisoners will be brought from various parts of Oregon and begin arriving in a few weeks, Nielsen said. None will be classified at the maximum-security level.

Oregon will also pay for five part-time jail employees, a dental program and anger management and parenting classes that will benefit Bannock County inmates as well.

The cell space opened up after Bonneville County canceled its 40-bed contract with Bannock County and the state prison system was unable to pay the escalating cost of bed rentals, Nielsen said.

Oregon’s prison crowding problem was aggravated last month when a private prison in Texas returned more than 200 Oregon sex offenders after local officials became outraged because two escaped.

Almost 1,000 Oregon convicts - about 12 percent of the state’s inmate population - are in rented cells in Texas and Arizona. The overall number of inmates is expected to more than double to 19,000 by 2005.