Corrections Recommendations Project

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), with its partners, will develop and implement a meaningful response to the reports received in 2023/24, to ensure the safety, security, and wellbeing of adults in our custody and staff working in our facilities while centering the values and principles of the Sheriff’s Office.   

MCSO operates two jails in Multnomah County, the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) and Multnomah County Inverness Jail (MCIJ). These facilities are currently funded (Fiscal Year 2024) to house up to 1,130 adults in custody (AIC). Both facilities undergo oversight evaluations required by state and county legislation.  

• The Corrections Grand Jury Inquiry is required by Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 132.440 and is facilitated by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office. The review is conducted by jurors from Multnomah County on an annual basis.  
• The Oregon Jail Standards Inspection is required by ORS 169.076 and includes two audits to ensure compliance with 15 Oregon Department of Corrections standards and 313 Oregon Jail Standards. The inspection is completed by the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association with each facility being inspected every other year. 
• The Board of County Commissioners is required to conduct an inspection annually by ORS 169.040. Further, an additional inspection, or the Correctional Facilities Community Inspection Program (CFCIP), is required annually according to the Multnomah County Charter in which Commissioners are required to include at least one member of the general public. 

Other organizations also have oversight authority and may conduct evaluations, such as the Multnomah County Auditor’s Office and Disability Rights Oregon.  

In addition to these required evaluations, in 2023 Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell requested technical assistance from the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) related to suicide awareness and prevention and contraband detection and control; and the Oregon State Police to review MCSO’s investigative practices for in-custody death investigations from 2023. 

In April 2024, MCSO launched the Corrections Recommendations Project to develop and implement a meaningful response to evaluations and audits, with our partners, to prioritize the safety, security, and wellbeing of adults in our custody and staff working in our facilities while centering the values and principles of the Sheriff’s Office.  

What you will find on this page: 

• Outcomes of the project, including a detailed dashboard that offers a closer look at the goals and strategies completed as part of this project and how those goals related to recommendations received. 

• Findings from a Project Evaluation completed with MCSO leaders and key partners to determine whether we achieved the purpose of the project and lessons we learned as we respond to evaluations in the future. 

• Reference documents for the 2024 Corrections Recommendations project that includes, in full text, the reports received and utilized for this project. 

The Sheriff’s Office has developed a dashboard, linked below, that offers a closer look at the progress workgroups have been able to make toward implementation of goals, based on recommendations from the reports received in 2023 and 2024. The dashboard will be updated at least monthly.

In May and June of 2024 leaders from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and Multnomah County Corrections Health, County Health Department worked with a consultant to strengthen interagency communication and shared work. During that period, the team developed strategies for how to respond to recommendations and implement goals together. That team continues to meet regularly and work together and to guide those efforts, using the Strategic Framework and the Individual Goal Plan template to help capture the work 

 Interagency Recommendations Project - Strategic Framework for Collaborative Action

Individual Group Plan Templates

In August of 2025, a project team launched an evaluation to engage leaders from the Sheriff’s Office and key partners to determine whether or not we achieved the purpose of the project and the lessons we learned as we respond to observations and recommendations in the future. 

Find out more here. 

In summary, four primary themes emerged related to transparency, accountability, interagency collaboration (with County partners), and agency wide (MCSO) leadership collaboration.  

Generally, it was found that the 2024 Corrections Recommendations Project:  

• prioritized accountability,  

• helped build interagency collaboration and formalized the partnership between MCSO and Corrections Health, and 

• fostered agency-wide leadership collaboration across multiple divisions at MCSO.  

Recommendations for the future were included in each thematic area. 

In addition to the required evaluations in 2023, Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell requested technical assistance from the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) and the Oregon State Police. This project will focus on observations and recommendations from the following reports and reviews:  

After close review and analysis of observations and recommendations from the reports, the following themes were identified:  

Operations: Recommendations focused on activities performed by staff in MCSO corrections, MCSO law enforcement or Multnomah County Corrections Health (Health Department) to meet legal requirements, fulfill expectations in their job description or meet the needs of adults in custody.  

Staffing: Recommendations focused on recruitment, hiring, training, retaining and assignment/deployment of staff for MCSO or Corrections Health.  

Facilities: Recommendations focused on making changes to the physical layout of the MCDC or MCIJ facilities, (to retrofit or repair), or resources therein (for example, cameras). 

Sheriff’s statement on National Institute of Corrections report