The House should reject Senate Bill 3, which would site the corrections facilities at Umatilla. But missing from their calculations is the cost for displacing to somewhere else a second men's prison that the state plans to build on the Umatilla site in the next 10 years. And, millions of dollars more in transportation costs would be incurred to move prisoners to and from Umatilla, since by far the majority of prisoners are sentenced from the Willamette Valley, primarily the Portland area. A Umatilla location would separate most of them by at least 180 miles, since 73 percent of the women sent to prison last year were sentenced from Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington and Marion counties. There's a cost as well as a human equation.
Studies show that women do better in prison and out when they have contact with their children.
The governor has sited new prisons in Madras, Umatilla, Lakeview, Oakridge and Lane and Jackson counties. He has authorized expansion of corrections facilities in Baker City, North Bend and Tillamook. Umatilla Mayor George Hash argues that the intake center and women's prison would be an economic boon to Umatilla, which is true. It's OK to look at economic effects when other things are equal, but in this case, other things are not. The governor did, and now believes the Day Road site would be better than Dammasch.