[From Our Partners] Evaluation of Emergency COVID-19 Jail Reduction Strategies in Multnomah County, Oregon
In response to the rapid spread of COVID‐19 in early 2020, jails across the country implemented emergency strategies to reduce jail populations in an effort to mitigate the spread of the virus. These strategies varied across counties in type and scope, ranging from identifying specific populations for release—e.g., those deemed “low‐risk,” those with underlying medical conditions, those close to their original release dates, etc.—eliminating bail/bond, and increasing access to community‐based alternatives to jail, such as supervised release, among others. In addition to these more intentional mechanisms, the rate of jail bookings was reduced as a result of substantial declines in arrests early in the pandemic due, in part, to the adoption of social distancing measures.
To learn more about the impact of emergency COVID-19 measures on jail reduction efforts, and think about emergency measures that could continue in the post-pandemic era, CUNY ISLG funded Justice System Partners (JSP) through the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) to conduct a mixed-methods case study on the emergency jail population reduction strategies implemented in Multnomah County, Oregon and the impact of these strategies on the jail population broadly, and continued bookings for violent crime, specifically. Multnomah County provided an interesting context in terms of jail bookings and community perceptions, as they had reduced jail bookings by 50 percent from the start of the pandemic while at the same time experienced over 100 days of social unrest in response to the murder of George Floyd at the same time as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Using administrative data from the Multnomah County Jail and interviews with people across the Multnomah County criminal legal system, including judges, attorneys, and law enforcement, and interviews with Multnomah County community members, including individuals incarcerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study aimed to identify the emergency strategies selected and implemented to reduce the jail population, the impact of those strategies on jail trends and jail bookings for violence-related charges, and perceptions of safety during this time for criminal legal system stakeholders and community members.
Key Findings include:
Participation in the SJC, and the collaboration it facilitates, allowed local stakeholders in Multnomah to act swiftly to implement emergency jail reduction strategies.
Though the County implemented a few new strategies, they mainly relied on making small changes to existing SJC strategies, including expanding eligibility criteria for existing pretrial reforms, allowing for a substantial decrease in the number of jail bookings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Contrary to the narrative that reforms lead to increases in crime, the significant jail reductions achieved during the pandemic in Multnomah did not lead to increases in crime.
Three out of every 4 of the individuals with a history of jail bookings in the pre-pandemic period did not experience a new jail booking for any reason after March 2020.
Bookings for violence-related charges did not increase, including for individuals who had a history of violence prior to the pandemic.
Though Multnomah County staff and community members reported feeling unsafe during the pandemic, it was attributed to a combination of COVID-19, limited local police presence, the militarized federal police presence during the protests, and social disorder, visible drug use, and property damage from the protests rather than person crimes or crimes with weapons.
In addition to the key findings in the technical report, JSP has also developed a set of strategic policy and practice recommendations based on the lessons learned in Multnomah County designed to assist criminal legal system stakeholders in Multnomah and other counties around the country to reduce the over-reliance on jails following the pandemic.
These key recommendations include:
De-emphasizing arrest for non-person, misdemeanor offenses, implementing deflection programs when possible, and increasing reliance on release on recognizance for non-violent misdemeanor and felony offense types;
Easing the burdens on individuals to attend court by allowing people to appear virtually for court hearings and minimizing the number of hearings that require attendance;
Reducing the number of people returning to the jail for non-crime related events, including failures to appear and violations of community supervision conditions;
Working with the community to define safety and violence when evaluating success; and
Investing in inter-agency collaboration to build and maintain momentum in implementing jail reduction efforts.
ABOUT THE SAFETY & JUSTICE CHALLENGE
In 2015, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation launched the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC), a multi-year initiative to reduce populations and racial disparities in American jails. To advance knowledge development grounded in a research agenda that explores, evaluates, and documents site-specific strategies to safely and effectively reduce jail populations and address racial and ethnic disparities, the Foundation engaged the Institute for State & Local Governance (ISLG) at the City University of New York (CUNY) to establish and oversee an SJC Research Consortium. Consortium members are nationally renowned research, policy, and academic organizations collaborating with SJC sites to build an evidence base focused on pretrial reform efforts.