Rural jails adapt for more women

PORTLAND – Jails in rural Oregon have high numbers of female inmates, and the glut is presenting challenges for many sheriffs who don’t have enough room to house them.

Corrections experts say methamphetamine and certain sentencing policies may be the top reasons so many Oregon women are in county jails compared with other states.

Women made up nearly 29 percent of the jail population in Crook County last year. They also totaled nearly 27 percent in Jefferson and Malheur counties, the Oregonian reported. That compares with a 22 percent state average and 12 percent national average.

In Union County, the increase in female inmates began about five years ago, and now “we’re almost never below 10 percent,” said Capt. Craig Ward, Union County’s undersheriff in charge of the jail in La Grande.

He said empty beds set aside for women sometimes means the jail must release male inmates even if there is available bed space in the women’s cellblock.

Corrections experts say there are a number of reasons for the influx.

Many Oregon judges use county jails and community corrections programs for drug and property offenders, and that tends to steer female offenders into jails rather than state prison, where more violent offenders go, said Craig Prins, executive director of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission.

About one-third of the meth possession convictions in 2008-2009 were women, he said.

In rural areas, there are fewer alternatives to jail time, and nonviolent crime may attract more attention than in urban areas.