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67 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, September 16, 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 How To Guide 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 July 18, 2004 James Patrick, 41, said he would rather work while serving his time rather than sit in the county jail. Patrick is in custody at the county�s Talent work center. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Back behind bars The Jackson County Jail is a home away from home for many By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune Paul Pate remembers being among the first inmates at the Jackson County Jail when it opened in 1981. Since then, there’s scarcely been a year that he hasn’t been back, perhaps 50 times in all, he thinks. "I’m growing old in that mother------," Pate says. "As long as you’re on probation, you’re going back to jail." A lifelong resident of Jackson County, Pate, 41, is among a criminal subculture that makes jail stays a regular part of life. Although he has a lengthy record, Pate says he’s never had problems finding work in construction or wood- products mills. Yet he’s never kept a job for more than a year before going back to his old ways. Local police have long spent most of their time catching and keeping tabs on the small criminal contingent to which Pate belongs, officials say. But now Pate and his peers are having more frequent run-ins with the law. Of the 5,573 people lodged in jail during the first six months of this year, just 1,783 inmates were first-timers. Nearly 3,800 people — 68 percent — were repeat offenders. That rate increased from 59 percent during the first six months of 2003. Advertisement The chronic lack of jail space and resulting rapid releases for lack of room may partially explain the sudden increase, officials say. When habitual offenders know they won’t spend much time in jail, the incentive to stay out evaporates. "The only deterrent to crime is an empty jail bed," says Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters. It’s been about a year since the county closed one of its jails, an 85-bed facility near Talent. A federal magistrate recently allowed the county to up its maximum inmate population from 190 to 255 in the main jail, but it routinely maintains a population of 230 because there isn’t enough staffing. While the jail has remained largely the same since opening in 1981, the county’s population has grown from 133,700 to about 190,100. The number of Medford police officers has approximately doubled in that period of time, said Medford police Lt. Mike Moran. Calls for service to the sheriff’s office increased by about 40 percent just in the first year of Winters’ tenure as sheriff in 2003. And the jail has now hit its limit. "It was great for then (when it was built in 1981), but it had no components for growth," Moran said. Out of 35 county jails in Oregon, Jackson books inmates at the seventh-highest rate. Yet the local jail is among the state’s smallest with 27 county jails in Oregon having more beds per 1,000 population, according to the Oregon Jail Manager’s Association. The county is aiming to re-open the Talent jail and has earmarked $2.6 million in the 2004-05 for the task. County Administrator Sue Slack says the county is looking at costs and options but has no timeline to reopen the facility. In the meantime, it’s business as usual at the jail, which runs at full capacity every day. When an inmate comes in the back door, another gets let out the front door according to the seriousness of their crime. It’s a process that leaves the most violent offenders in custody, releasing drug addicts and petty criminals who may have long records but pose no violent threat to society. "Everybody believes they’re going to get kicked out" of the jail, Pate said, agreeing with a group of five other men serving time at the county work center near Talent. Most have been transferred from the main jail within the past several weeks. All have been there numerous times before on charges ranging from robbery to assault, unlawful possession of firearms to possession of drugs. Their records resemble many habitual offenders, including one who officials say has recently epitomized the problem of the jail’s catch-and-release system. Eric One Ziegler spent years shuttling in and out of jail on minor charges before he was sentenced in April to six years and two months in state prison. Police detectives had tied him to more than 60 Rogue Valley car burglaries, many targeted at female drivers parking at shopping centers in broad daylight. Although he was arrested numerous times, Ziegler was quickly released because no single criminal charge was serious enough to put him high enough on the jail’s priority list. Several months after investigators tried to put the brakes on Ziegler’s one-man crime spree, Sheriff Winters ordered jail staff to keep him in custody. Circuit Court Judge Ray White set his bail at $500,000. Those actions finally put a stop to the countywide theft scheme that was fueling Ziegler’s methamphetamine addiction, investigators say. "Methamphetamine is absolutely the driving force of our criminal justice system," says sheriff’s Detective Colin Fagan. Addicts agree. "With my addiction, it’s either all or nothing," says 21-year-old Nick Knickerbocker, who is serving time at the county work center. "Drugs have always been a part of my life." Knickerbocker’s family taught him to sell drugs, he says, which landed him in prison at 17. The drugs almost unfailingly lead to other crimes — burglary, forgery, assault and weapons violations. Although meth has been used for decades, it has become easier and cheaper to make in recent years, and state officials are now decrying it as the largest factor contributing to statewide crime, particularly identity theft. The first Oregon governor to single out the drug, Ted Kulongoski in December appointed a state task force to combat the meth problem. The county also is targeting the drug over the next year, seeking to educate the public about meth while re-evaluating and adjusting treatment practices, law enforcement efforts and social service strategies. One-quarter of inmates in jail Monday had charges connected to drugs. Nearly half of all inmates were there because they violated conditions of probation or parole — imposed in many cases for drug convictions — or they failed to appear in court. "They didn’t create any new crime, just a bunch of paperwork and the court’s time," says corrections deputy Debbie McDonald. Offenders’ inability or unwillingness to comply with probation and take care of business in court can also be traced back to addiction, say Pate, Knickerbocker and fellow inmates. They can usually toe the line for about a week before they lapse back into a life of drugs and don’t report to their probation officer. The threat of a six-month jail sanction as punishment is virtually meaningless, they say. "I’ve been to jail enough times here and know enough people, there’s no scare to it," says 41-year- old James Patrick. "I’m more comfortable being locked up than I am out on the streets," says 36-year-old Timothy Williams, also known as Little Feather. "It’s not gonna hurt me. Six months is nothing." The jail cycle among chronic offenders can likely be blamed in part on the lack of expectations society has of the corrections system, says Lee Ayers, chairwoman of Southern Oregon University’s criminology department. "For years what we really wanted was to just warehouse these people," she adds. "We’re not thinking long-term with this. "How do we get this person out of the cycle ... and how do we give them the tools for success?" But Pate and others at the county work center easily talk the talk. They’ve been through enough drug treatment, group-counseling sessions and probation meetings to know how to stay clean and out of jail. Yet they doubt they have what it takes. "I haven’t hit my bottom yet, and I lost my kids to it (drugs and crime)," Pate says. Just as most inmates believe they’re next in line for a speedy release from jail, they also believe they’ll be back for yet another round. 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. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities