SMILING NO MORE: AFSCME’s Mary Botkin.

Six months ago, Oregonians approved Measure 57, directing the state to imprison 2,000 new inmates and requiring additional prison construction.

But instead of locking up more offenders, the Oregon Department of Corrections has now submitted a tentative budget projecting closure of 10 of the state’s 14 existing prisons and release 3,500 prisoners, about a quarter of the current total (see “Prisoners Dilemma,” WW, April 15, 2009).

“It’s unbelievable,” says Mary Botkin, a lobbyist for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 75, which represents 3,100 corrections staffers. “But it’s there in black and white.”

At one level, the proposed closures make sense. After education and human services, prisons are the third-largest piece of the state’s budget, which could be facing as much as a $5 billion shortfall, or one-third of the overall spending plan.

Botkin says possible prison closures do more than imperil her members’ jobs: They threaten public safety and could also hand Republicans a valuable political tool in future elections.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jeanine Hohn says potential cuts are her agency’s response to Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s call for a 30 percent budget cut. Hypothetically, DOC would close small and minimum-security prisons first. Because staffing costs make up most of the DOC’s budget, the agency would need to eliminate 1,700 jobs, however, causing it to shutter 70 percent of existing prisons—as well as delaying implementation of Measure 57.

Hohn says her agency is awaiting instructions from the Ways and Means Committee, which will not come until after the May 15 revenue forecast.

Botkin, who’s been lobbying for AFSCME for 25 years, knows however ugly that forecast is, it will prompt a scramble among education, social services and public safety advocates.

“There’s not a big outcry to save prisons,” she says, “but there will be if released inmates start making their way back into people’s neighborhoods.”