$190 Million Oregon Facility Admits First Inmates

MADRAS, Ore. — After more than 10 years of planning and pauses, Department of Corrections officials opened the minimum-security component of the new $190 million Deer Ridge Correctional Institution.

The first of two facilities to be located at Deer Ridge Correctional Institution, the 644-bed minimum-security facility features dormitory-style quarters with private shower and toilet facilities. The second phase of the DRCI complex, a 1,223-bed medium-security facility that features shared cells, is scheduled to open in 2008.

Deer Ridge is the first facility in the state to incorporate a dedicated treatment center specializing in substance abuse problems and mental-health care, officials say. The medium-security facility will accommodate more than 430 beds dedicated to specialized treatment programs, while more than 210 beds at the minimum-security facility will be made available for such special-needs inmates.

Facing an aging statewide prison population, Deer Ridge also will be the first of the state’s 14 prisons to incorporate a housing unit dedicated to geriatric care, officials say.

Beds at DRCI will be opened in phases to match statewide housing needs, and the complex will house approximately 600 inmates by March 2008, officials say. Officials expect the population to increase to almost 1,000 inmates by the summer of 2009, and reach the full capacity of 1,887 by 2013.

Covering approximately 200 acres of a 453-acre site in central Oregon, DRCI will house up to 120 inmates with behavioral problems in a high-security unit.

The first group of inmates to arrive — transferred from other facilities throughout the state — was selected based on their job skills, such as kitchen and laundry workers and custodians, to help get the facility up and running, officials say.

The new facility’s corrections staff also includes a core of experienced staff moved from existing state prisons, while local hires make up more than 30 percent of a start-up staff roster that will eventually increase from 125 to 225 individuals, officials say.

In preparation for the new state prison, town officials constructed a new $8 million water treatment plant. Local voters passed a $16 million bond issue to fund school expansions and renovations, while planners are moving ahead with the addition of more than 500 new homes to handle the expected influx of new residents.