PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — In a review of a 2022 audit, Multnomah County Auditor Jennifer McGuirk said the county sheriff and Board of County Commissioners had fully implemented only five of 11 recommendations. Five recommendations remain unimplemented, and one is still in progress.
“Among the recommendations that have not been implemented, the most concerning to me is that the county jails continue to widely use solitary confinement, particularly for those with mental health conditions,” McGuirk wrote in a press release. “For example, misconduct citations result in solitary confinement 91% of the time. This kind of isolation is when an adult in custody is confined to their cell for 22 or more hours per day. There are strong correlations between solitary confinement and worsened general mental health, anxiety, depression, self-harm, and mortality—particularly suicide. Putting people in solitary confinement does not help rehabilitate them.”…