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Revolving door Capt. Dan Penland, commander of the Jackson County Jail, surveys the basement floor when it opened in spring 2014. Closing the floor last January helped boost the morale of an overtaxed staff, but it's meant nearly 4,000 early releases. Sunday Nov 13, 2016 at 2:00 AM Nov 13, 2016 at 8:05 AM Nick Morgan Mail Tribune @mtcrimebeat The closure of the Jackson County Jail's basement a year ago has doubled the number of inmates sprung early because of overcrowding, records show. This year, 1 in 3 inmates has been released before a court hearing, posting bail or even finishing a sentence because of a lack of beds at the jail. In 2015, the ratio was 1 in 6. Jackson County Sheriff Corey Falls cited staffing shortages and lack of adequate training when he shut the basement floor on Nov. 5, 2015, cutting the jail's capacity by 62 beds, or 21 percent. The floor was meant for lower-risk offenders and was opened in early 2014 by Falls' predecessor, Mike Winters. Jail Commander Dan Penland said of the 11,899 people booked in the jail this year, 3,948 were released because of capacity. In 2015, there were 2,000 forced releases out of 12,047 bookings. "We're at the point now where we're always overcrowded," Penland said. Releases are determined based on risk factors and don't include inmates facing Measure 11 crimes, serving a court-mandated sentence, held on probation or parole detention, charged with sexual offenses, held on federal charges or exhibiting clear signs of mental illness, according to Penland. The jail's reduced capacity and overcrowding have cast ripples throughout the county's criminal justice system, increasing crime by repeat offenders and prolonging court cases as freed suspects shun their court appearances. In 2015, the sheriff's department's 10 records clerks entered more than 25,000 incidents, including paperwork for 3,456 warrants, according to a report posted by Support Bureau chief Capt. Tim Snaith. In the report, Snaith said jail overcrowding was one of the reasons the clerks' workload has dramatically risen in the span of three decades. "Part of the increase in workload can be attributed to population growth in Jackson County," Snaith wrote in his report. "However, a large portion of the increased workload, especially in warrant entries, can be ascribed to the fact that many habitual offenders are released from jail due to insufficient bed space." Snaith added it can take several arrests before suspects face a judge because they're not kept in custody. "For some offenders, being arrested and taken to jail has become a mere inconvenience," Snaith wrote. Sheriff's department statistics show a surge of crimes in 2016 compared to last year, including 19 percent more assaults, 10 percent more thefts, 10 percent more stolen vehicles and 61 percent more drug crimes, according to a report posted by operations chief Capt. Nathan Sickler on Oct. 7. Falls said he plans to reopen the basement in summer 2017 after new recruits finish background checks and training and staffing levels improve. But the return to 292 beds may not be enough, according to a special grand jury's annual audit of the jail, made public in July. In addition to reopening the basement as soon as possible, the grand jury recommended the sheriff's department evaluate operations in the next year with an eye toward building a new jail facility. Falls said he plans to look into expanding jail beds using simpler means, such as remodeling part of the transitional center in Phoenix, but said he wants to "put the horse before the cart" by focusing on filling open staffing positions before he considers any further expansion. Jackson County District Attorney Beth Heckert said she works with the court and the jail to make the best use of the jail beds the county does have, but said the basement closure impacts prosecutors. "Any time we have a reduction in jail beds, we do feel that," Heckert said. In the grand jury report, Heckert reported that forced releases because of overcrowding have caused many defendants to fail to appear in court, impacting her department's operations. Forced releases can have adverse impacts on the inmates themselves, particularly those with drug addictions who might've found sobriety through the justice system if they'd stayed in jail. Earlier this fall, Heidi Leigh Urban of White City was sentenced to more than nine years in prison after admitting to a spree of burglaries in which she found keys and stole vehicles, including a 2016 Porsche 911 sports car. More than once over the summer, Urban re-offended immediately after her release from the jail because of overcrowding. During an Oct. 5 sentencing hearing, in which Urban apologized for the havoc she wreaked while addicted to heroin, Deputy District Attorney Virginia Greer said Urban had been eligible for drug court before the severity of her crimes escalated. "We were simply unable to keep her in jail," Greer said during the hearing. Falls stands behind the basement closure, but he said he, too, finds it frustrating that more than 3 in 4 inmates have re-offended, but there's no place to put them. "A lot of our problems are the same people," Falls said. "That's frustrating to me." The basement closure has been a relief for shorthanded staff inside the jail, however. Though there were 52 budgeted positions in the jail in 2015, only 37 were working, thanks to eight vacancies and staff time away for training. Those deputies still at the jail often had to work 20 or 30 hours of overtime — some of it mandatory with only 90 minutes' notice, and all in four-hour chunks to cover vacant shifts. The work can be physically and emotionally stressful on deputies without time to recuperate, according to Penland. "We were essentially starting to run them into the ground," Penland said. Corrections Deputy Jeff Carpenter, a representative of the Jackson County Sheriff's Employees Association union, told the grand jury in March that morale had improved since the basement closure. Falls said in the report that the closure reduced forced overtime and allowed staff inside the jail to reach their needed 40 hours of Crisis Intervention Training — covering a range of topics, from defensive tactics to inmate rape prevention. As of November, 95 percent of corrections deputies have met their training goals, and all will have met them by the end of the year, according to Penland. Two corrections deputies, Anthony Rhein and and Steven Sagert, graduated from the academy in Salem Friday. After another six months of training, the new hires will bring the jail's staffing levels up to 47 of 52 budgeted positions. Penland and Falls hope to fill more openings this month from a pool of nine applicants. A realistic timeline to open the basement is July, Falls said. He said recruiting is heading in the "right direction," but reopening is dependent on working bodies. "We have to have about a 5 percent vacancy rate," Falls said. "Right now we're below that." "He doesn't want to open it, then have to close it again," Penland said. Falls said the jail basement, which Winters repurposed at a cost of $2.7 million, wasn't meant to be sustainable. Falls said it was opened and kept open because it was an election year. At the time it opened in April 2014, jail staff was down at least five positions, and was down eight positions the next year. "That was pretty telling," Falls said. — Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MTCrimeBeat.