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89 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, July 14, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 12, 2004 Sheriff proposes consolidation He’d like to bring parole and probation under his purview to save money and improve supervision of criminals By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune A new proposal to bring the county’s parole and probation department under the sheriff’s authority will improve public safety, said Sheriff Mike Winters. A citizens committee is studying Winters’ plan with the intent of making a recommendation to the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, the sheriff said. Until a decision is reached, county officials have agreed to hold off on the search for a new director of the parole and probation department, known as Community Justice. Director Bob Grindstaff is due to retire in July. Local authorities have long acknowledged the shortage of beds to house prisoners in the county’s jail and Community Justice Work Center. Supervising the county’s convicted criminals has become even more difficult as the state has cut funding. Rearranging the equation will save money and make the community safer, Winters said. "I’m working toward bringing the criminal justice system into balance," he said. Under Winters’ plan, the role of sheriff and director of Community Justice would be combined, saving more than $100,000 each year in salary and benefits. Several other positions may be eliminated, combined or redefined, bringing another $300,000 in savings, Winters said. Juvenile services would not be managed by the sheriff. Advertisement The responsibility for incarcerating criminals or imposing other punitive measures would rest solely with the sheriff’s department instead of being split between two agencies, Winters said. Another arm of the department would manage treatment-oriented programs. Community Justice administrators now wield some power over how inmates serve their time. At the jail, deputies wrestle daily with releasing enough inmates to meet the court-ordered cap of 230 inmates. The jail population has become more difficult to manage as the number of inmates held for violent crimes defined by Measure 11 continues to increase, said sheriff’s Lt. Dan Penland. The result, Winters said, is more prisoners are released, higher-risk offenders are under inappropriate supervision and the public’s safety is compromised. The lack of accountability in the county’s criminal justice system has contributed to more repeat offenders, he said. Of the approximately 10,000 inmates booked into the county jail last year, at least two-thirds of them had been there at least once before, Penland said. "The system has to work as a whole," Penland said. The county should have been prompted to take a closer look at its criminal justice system two years ago, Winters said, when a group of parole and probation officers drafted a letter of no-confidence in Grindstaff. The officers accused him of fabricating recidivism rates for offenders housed in the work center near Talent and providing erroneous information to that city’s officials about the risk associated with those offenders, according to Mail Tribune reports. Grindstaff refuted the allegations, and said the letter was sparked by personnel problems that resulted in discipline of some employees. Grindstaff said Friday that the county did look at his job performance and the motivation behind the "no-confidence" vote. County officials roundly supported his administration, he said. Grindstaff said he hasn’t heard all of Winters’ proposal but he assumes he will have some disagreements. The committee is expected to reach a recommendation for county commissioners regarding Winters’ proposal within a week. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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