After his term ended as Multnomah County sheriff, Mike Reese considered running for Portland mayor or City Council. Then in October, Gov. Tina Kotek’s deputy chief of staff called, asking him to take on the top job at the Oregon Department of Corrections.
Now, three weeks as leader of the state prison system, Reese said he’s focused on hiring more staff and providing adequate mental health and re-entry services for the estimated 12,100 people serving time in one of Oregon’s dozen prisons.
“I am not going to run for mayor,” said Reese, 66, in an interview this week with The Oregonian/OregonLive. “I’m thrilled to be here.”
Reese served as Portland’s police chief from 2010 to 2015, when he retired as one of the longest-serving police chiefs in the city. Reese went on to be appointed as sheriff in 2016 and was subsequently elected two years later. His term concluded at the end of 2022.
He assumes control of an agency with 4,460 employees and biennial budget of $2.31 billion, including $441.75 million for medical care for people in custody. The population of incarcerated people is aging with about 16% who are 55 and older — a percentage that has risen over the past 10 or so years.
About 11,223 men and 882 women are in custody. The number of incarcerated people dropped significantly during the pandemic due in part to curtailed court operations during that time. The number has climbed since then but has not yet returned to its pre-pandemic levels, data shows. The population is expected to grow to about 13,000 by the end of 2025, state analysts say. In early January 2020, about 14,000 people were in custody.
The leadership post is among the last agency head positions to be filled by Kotek and comes as the Corrections Department faces serious challenges, including what one state-commissioned report found was a toxic culture at the state’s women’s prison, chronic understaffing throughout the prison system, an aging prisoner population and soaring drug use among prisoners.
A Marion County jury this year also sided with two corrections employees who said they faced retaliation by department leaders after they challenged the agency’s use of data during the budget process and called attention to what they say were misstatements made by then-Deputy Director Heidi Steward while she was testifying before the Legislature. The women said they were shunned, demoted and denied meaningful assignments. They were awarded $2.5 million.
Reese takes over from Steward, the acting director who succeeded Colette S. Peters. Peters, the longtime department head, was tapped last year by President Joe Biden to lead the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Steward has returned to the deputy director position.
Reese said Kotek outlined her goals for him, underscoring the importance of stable housing for people after their release and treatment plans for people in recovery. He said the agency does not have money to provide adequate counseling and treatment.
“Not everybody in our custody can meet with a corrections counselor,” he said. “Not everybody that needs treatment for their addiction has a treatment plan in place. There are gaps in what we are offering.”
Kotek’s budget for the Department of Corrections for the next two years acknowledged in a note that accompanied the spending plan the “ongoing difficulties with recruiting, hiring, and retaining correctional staff” and that “the expectation is that the department should maintain a sustained ongoing focus on recruiting and retaining front-line staff.”
Reese said he plans to visit each state prison in the next three months and has already been to Coffee Creek Correctional Institution in Wilsonville.
The prison has a history of significant problems, including the recent case of a nurse convicted in federal court of sexually abusing nine women serving time there.
The report commissioned by the Legislature painted a picture of a prison in crisis, where prisoners say they face retaliation for complaining about sexual misconduct. The report highlighted Coffee Creek’s severe understaffing and disagreements between staff who provide mental health care to prisoners and those who guard them.
Staff shortages at the women’s prison are acute and among the highest of any of the state’s 12 prisons, reviewers found. They noted Coffee Creek has the highest vacancy rate in the prison system among medical staff. Morale is low and perceptions of employees’ well-being is poor, they found.
Reese said he’s read the 229-page report and has requested that the prison superintendent and corrections administrators work to put the recommendations in place. He said he has requested from the staff a timeline for carrying out the changes.
The report made many recommendations that included training to “improve staff professionalism,” implementing what it called a “gender responsive staffing model” and improving the “integrity and effectiveness” of reporting sexual crimes.
He said he plans to hold a “listening session” with women and staff at Coffee Creek.
“First and foremost, I want to listen to the adults in custody and to the staff and take that roadmap and start working on each and every one of the recommendations,” he said.
Reese’s salary is $241,224 per year. Portland’s Fire and Police Disability and Retirement program pays him $12,128.78 a month plus an extra $300 monthly to offset taxes imposed on his pension.
Reese said he also receives a pension through the state Public Employees Retirement System; PERS required the news organization to submit a public records request for the benefit Reese receives. The request was still pending Friday. Reese said he receives about $1,686 per month.
Oregonian reporter Austin De Dios contributed to this report.
— Noelle Crombie; [email protected]; 503-276-7184; @noellecrombie
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