Any solution for Clark County’s outdated and overcrowded jail is going to be costly. Sooner or later, residents will have to pay for a vast overhaul of the facility.
We mention this as an introduction to one option recently floated. County Council Chair Marc Boldt has discussed using the never-used Wapato Jail in North Portland, west of Jantzen Beach and near the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers, to house prisoners from Clark County. The empty facility could help ease overcrowding at the Clark County Jail and relieve some of the stress on the county’s corrections system.
Boldt is on the right track in considering all possibilities for the jail, but he should have discussed the Wapato option with other council members and county staff before talking about it on a Portland radio show. Meanwhile, any eventual decision must focus upon a long-term solution rather than a temporary effort that kicks the issue down the road.
The need for a solution is clear. The county’s population is quickly outgrowing the current jail, which was built in 1984 and has 300 beds; last year, the county jail had an average of more than 700 inmates a day, although not all of those are held overnight. A study last year suggested that Clark County will need more than 1,100 jail beds by 2036 and that upgrades or a new facility will cost between $63 million and $284 million. Corrections Chief Ric Bishop said at the time, “I had sticker shock.”
Many residents likely had the same reaction. The price is steep, but the current situation is untenable. Providing adequate space is not a matter of providing luxuries or a country club atmosphere; it is a matter of providing the safest possible environment for inmates and officers, reducing recidivism, and creating efficiencies that help lower operating costs. In one example, overcrowding limits the mental health services offered at the current facility — services that are a wise investment in keeping offenders from becoming repeat offenders.
Multnomah County’s Wapato Jail could provide relief. The 155,400-square-foot facility was built in 2004 about six miles from downtown Vancouver but has never opened because of a lack of operational funding. Multnomah County recently sold the jail for $5 million to Jordan Schnitzer of Portland. Schnitzer has said he wants to use the building for something that benefits the community, and there has been talk of turning it into a homeless shelter.
With its proximity to Vancouver and its available space, Wapato Jail could provide some benefits to Clark County. But it also could become little more than a money pit that delays a lasting resolution to the county’s dilemma. The price of readying and operating Wapato should not be allowed to distract from the larger need to renovate the current jail or construct a new facility.
A recently convened Correction Facility Advisory Commission must consider not only the cost of using Wapato but the long-term effect that will have on corrections in Clark County. Whether or not Wapato can be part of a lasting solution, the overriding goal must be to prepare the region for the future and for continued growth.
An effectively managed legal system is one of the primary duties of county government, ranging from law enforcement to the courts to corrections. When one pillar of that system falls short, it hampers the other pillars and poorly serves the community. Sooner or later, an overhaul of Clark County’s jailing system will be necessary, and it probably will come with a bit of sticker shock.
