Jail Bed Rentals

Jail Bed Rentals

The Benton County Jail does not have enough capacity to hold all offenders who have been ordered to be held in custody. To address this, we rent 40 jail beds in other facilities.

The Sheriff’s Office currently contracts with Polk county for pre-trial adults in custody and Clatsop County Jail for sentenced adults in custody.

Transports

To manage overcrowding, Benton County Jail staff regularly juggle AICs between the Benton County Jail and our contract beds.  In 2023, 792 Adults in Custody were transported by deputies traveling 33,393 miles. In 2024, 731 Adults in Custody were transported 31,799 miles.

A complicated decision-making process is used to determine which AICs to transport. Considerations include where beds are available, whether the AIC is pretrial or sentenced, the length of stay, nature of the AIC’s crime, impending court appearances, and many other factors.

Costs

The Jail Bed Rental Program is paid for through a public option levy. First approved by voters in 2000, it has been regularly renewed, most recently in 2021. The cost of this rental program to Benton County taxpayers is nearly $1 million per year.