Clackamas County Jail
160 Years of Service
1845
The first public building in Oregon was a jail — the first jail west of the Rocky Mountains. And it was built in Oregon City. It was two stories tall, 18 feet square and made of wood.
1846
The jail burns down under mysterious circumstances.
1854
A second jail is built. In addition, a 8-by 4-foot steel box may have been used as a temporary jail when other accommodations weren’t available. It was windowless, seated two — uncomfortably — and may be over 150 years old.
1884
The County’s fifth courthouse is built in Oregon City, and the County Jail moves into the basement. There are reports of prisoners talking to the public through the bars.
1937
The sixth and final courthouse opens at the same location in 1937. Its basement jail became overcrowded — and a determined prisoner could reportedly cut through the weak steel grating with a knife. The federal government refused to approve it for holding federal prisoners.
1959
The Clackamas County Jail is built at its current site in Oregon City. It has a capacity of about 86 prisoners.
1982 The Jail is remodeled, and an addition constructed — raising its capacity to 164.
1990 Another addition is constructed to accommodate the Oregon Corrections Intake Center (OCIC) — adding 300 beds, administrative space, and new medical and booking facilities.
2002 The OCIC moves to a new location, and the Clackamas County Jail absorbs the vacated space. Thirty beds are converted to an in-house laundry service — increasing the total number of jail beds to 434.
The state average for county-jail beds is 2.5 per 1,000 county residents. Clackamas County Jail has only .96 “hard beds” per 1,000 county residents.
Fast Facts
- The Oregon Jail Standards Board awarded the Clackamas County Jail a 97.4-percent compliance rating — one of the highest grades in the state.
- The Jail employs 127 full and part-time employees. The Jail’s budget for fiscal year 2005-06 is approximately $16.5 million.
- Approximately 16,000 offenders are booked into and processed at the Clackamas County Jail annually.
- The Jail spends approximately $12,000 per month for inmate medications. The majority of this cost is for psychotropic medications serving the 18–20% average daily inmate population who suffer from mental-health issues.
- The Jail’s kitchen serves roughly 36,000 meals per month. The average cost is 91 cents per meal, which only covers the food costs.
- The Jail provides its own laundry service using inmate labor. The annual savings is about $50,000 per year versus contracting this service.
- The Sheriff’s Electronic Home Detention program monitors prisoners remotely using electronic ankle bracelets — freeing up as many as 100 Jail beds per day.
- The Jail provides inmates with AA/NA meetings, religious services, adult basic-education and life-skills opportunities, and an inmate law library.
Fighting for Mental Health
About 30 percent of offenders booked at the Jail suffer from some sort of mental illness. Since February 2005, the Jail has collaborated with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and local mental-health agencies to build its Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program — which teaches Jail staffers how to supervise inmates with mental-health problems.
The Sheriff’s Message
We’re committed to making our Jail the best it can be. In February 2005 we brought in the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) to do an overall assessment. Their audit included recommendations to bring the Jail up to NIC standards by updating our policies and procedures.
We’ve worked with consultants to create a Master Staffing Plan to cut unnecessary overtime. A Needs Assessment is helping us determine how to best serve inmates for the next 20 years. Audits are helping us make the most of our medical and kitchen facilities. And our Master Facility Plan prepares the Jail for decades of growth.
We’re proud of our highly rated facility and the deputies who staff it. As Clackamas County continues to grow, we’re facing some challenges. As Sheriff, I want to educate the community about those challenges — and work with you to find real and lasting solutions. Together, we’ll keep finding ways to keep the residents of Clackamas County safe and sound.
Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts
