Whitney M. Woodworth

Statesman Journal

Earlier this month, Elizabeth Hacker's oldest daughter got into Stanford University. She said it was one of the most joyous moments of her life, and not just because her daughter's dream was becoming a reality.

It was because, after being in and out of jail for the two and half years, she was finally reunited with her children.

Like so many women in Oregon, Hacker became caught in a cycle of abusive relationships and addiction that led to her incarceration. It was only with getting sober and using transitional resources to find a job, house and stay clean that she able to get— and stay— on track, she said.

"I feel lucky to have had the treatment and services that I needed, but I’m not more special than anyone else I got to know in jail," Hacker said. "Other women have children and families and hopes and dreams. Other women need help."

Hacker spoke before a House Judiciary Committee Wednesday in favor of House Bill 3078, also known as the 2017 Safety and Savings Act.

Supporters of the proposed bill say the act, which would change sentencing guidelines for property and drug convictions and allow more people into treatment and transitional services, would keep people out of Oregon's crowded prisons.

Opponents denied the claims that state prisons were experiencing an overcrowding crisis and said the bill would undo the progress Oregon has made on reducing crime.

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Sponsors of the proposed bill, Rep. Carla Piluso, D-Gresham, Rep. Tawna Sanchez, D-Portland, and Rep. Ann Lininger, D-Lake Oswego, spoke in support of the bill Wednesday.

"When I arrested women with their children watching, I knew I was altering their lives forever," said Piluso, a former Gresham police chief. "Many of these mothers were in domestic violence situations or struggling with addiction or mental illness."

She attributed these problems to lack of treatment and sentencing laws that created lengthy, expensive prison stays for repeat offenders. The change made in 2008 to implement longer sentences was created to target big-time drug kingpins instead mostly punishes low-level addicts, she said.

"Nothing pains an officer more than to find out that our system isn't addressing the underlying problem, and they'd have to go back and arrest the same woman over and over, or even worse, their children 10 years later," Piluso said.

Lininger tearfully recounted her experience watching her young cousin struggle with addiction and the criminal justice system. She urged the committee to approve the bill, saying it was a better and more humane way to treat people with addiction and mental illnesses.

The changes will benefit all qualified inmates, not just women, but it will serve to address the "skyrocketing" female inmate population, supporters said.

According to researchers, the number of women imprisoned in the Oregon Department of Corrections has nearly tripled over the past 20 years even though women are not committing more frequent or serious crimes.

Talk of a building a new, $20-million prison to handle Oregon's growing female inmate population spurred the creation of the proposed bill, said Shannon Wight, deputy director and policy director of Partnership for Safety and Justice, the advocacy agency behind the bill.

Spending that money would not have been a good investment, she said. The funds would be better spent on intensive probation and treatment, which would address root causes of most female incarceration— drug addiction and mental illness.

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About 70 percent of the more than 1,200 women inside Coffee Creek Correctional Facility are there for drug and property crimes, Wight said. Most have struggled with addiction and mental health. Many are survivors of domestic violence.

Wight said the proposed bill has several different components designed to address the root causes of incarceration and lower recidivism rates. If passed, the bill would preserve the Family Sentencing Alternative, a program passed in 2015 in an effort to keep children and parent offenders together by providing them with intensive supervision and services instead of prison. The proposed bill would also expand the program to include pregnant women and increase the number of counties participating in alternative sentencing.

Defendants being sentenced for person felonies, like assault and armed robbery, and sex crimes would not be eligible for alternative sentencing.

Backers of the bill also want to increase short-term transitional leave from 30 days to 180 days. Wight said expanding the period would allow for more time to help released inmates find housing, employment, and treatment, thus, lowering the chances of them re-offendingand returning to prison.

Officials with the Partnership for Justice and Safety said the state's excessive sentences for drug and property crimes "disproportionately impact women and people of color."

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A portion of the proposed bill seeks to undo those "excessive" prison stays by reducing the presumption sentences for certain property crimes and increasing the number of previous convictions—from two to four— allowed before a sentence automatically lengthens.

Intensive treatment is more cost-effective than filling prison cells, Wight said. Realigning drug and property sentencing laws and focusing on rehabilitation will create long- and short-term savings

Those savings can be used to a fund the grossly under-met needs of victim services agencies, she added. The bill would appropriate a set amount to the Oregon Domestic and Sexual Violence Fund, where current funding levels are less than 50 percent of what is minimally required to ensure adequate access to emergency services, according to the Partnership for Justice and Safety.

Steve Doell, president of Crime Victims United of Oregon, said the proposed bill would harm victims.

"House Bill 3078 is not about protecting victims," he said. "It's about cutting sentences. It's about saving money. It's about shifting the cost of crime away from the state and onto the backs of the businesses and individuals who are victimized."

Shortening sentences and letting people out of prison early would cause society to lose its trust in the criminal justice system, Doell said.

Clackamas County District Attorney John Foote spoke on behalf of the Oregon District Attorneys Association, which opposes the bill.

"We're not unfeeling people," he said. "We care about people at risk, but this bill is wrong... This bill takes us back to the 1980s."

Foote, who's worked for in the business for 37 years, said back then, there was no truth in sentencing or proportional punishments for repeat offenders and those with multiple victims. Changes in those sentencing laws reduced crime, he said.

"This is the safest Oregon I have ever lived in," Foote said.

In a report, the district attorneys association alleged that contrary to popular belief, the state's prison population is not ballooning; Rather, it is growing at a glacial pace. The total prison population is forecast to grow 4 percent in the next 10 years, according to the Office of Economic Analysis. The female inmate population will grow 1.2 percent, or by a grand total of 16 inmates, by 2026.

Wight said that allegation "counters everything that we know" about problems facing the prison system and discounts the impact that sentencing has on women and minorities.

Foote ended his testimony by urging the committee to vote down the bill. It'll take the state down the wrong path if it passes, he added.

"You'll regret it, and Oregon will regret it," he said.

During his 25 years of criminal activity, Gary Cobb said he was caught in a cycle of crime and heroin addiction.

"Once I got released, I would pick it back up again," he said.

Finally getting into a structured setting and receiving treatment in 2000 pulled him out of the destructive cycle, he said.

Now, 16 years in recovery and a proud homeowner, Cobb works as a community outreach coordinator for Central City Concern to help others experiencing, homelessness and poverty.

The act could result in cost-savings, community-based services, addiction treatment and increased family stability, all of which make communities safer and stronger.

"What you end of doing is investing in these folks," he said. "We become taxpayers, and we pay back into the system."

For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodwort@statesmanjournal.com, call 503-399-6884 or follow on Twitter @wmwoodworth

Total inmates in Oregon Department of Corrections custody in 2017: 14,644

Female inmate population at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility (April 2017): 1,292

Female population of Coffee Creek in 2002: 646

Percent increase in Oregon DOC female prison population in past 20 years: 200 percent

Estimated cost of a second women’s prison per biennium: $18 million

Percent of women in prison who are mothers: 75 percent

Percent of women in prison convicted of drug and property crimes: 70 percent

Source: Oregon Department of Corrections