Multnomah County Sheriff Facing Crisis As Jails Reach 95% Capacity

The Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell announced that county jails swelled to over 90% capacity over the weekend, creating an emergency staffing crisis.

Multnomah County Jails Almost At Maximum Capacity

At the downtown Multnomah County Detention Center and Inverness Jail, the total capacity is 1,130 inmates. Although jail populations fluctuate constantly, they tend to be busier over weekends when the courts are closed.

By last Sunday night, the county’s jail inmates at the Multnomah County Inverness Jail and the Multnomah County Detention Center had a combined number of 1,043 inmates, or 92.3% of the capacity available.

When the capacity reached 90%, a ‘yellow alert’ was triggered and the Sheriff notified other agencies of limited space.

Jail capacity had dropped to 87% by Tuesday morning and was fractionally under the yellow alert trigger at 89.3% by Thursday, October 24. The number of inmates had declined to 978 beds by Tuesday morning.

Natalie Wight, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon saw the situation as an emergency and warned the situation could be worsened by the potential political unrest associated with the presidential election next month.

Multnomah County Jails May Have To Release Inmates With Low-Level Charges

According to the Sheriff’s office, the county will be required to release inmates facing low-level charges on an emergency basis if the inmate population reaches 95% (1,074 inmates). O’Donnell said there are risks and this is not an acceptable outcome for the public safety system.

Jessica Vega Pederson, the Multnomah County Chair, is committed to helping the Sheriff and has directed Central Human Resources, in collaboration with the Sheriff’s Office HR, to use innovative efforts to maintain staff resources. O’Donnell said, “Forced releases when you look at the system as a whole, is a reflection of the failure of our systems of accountability and our rehabilitative goals.”