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Last month, as WW prepared to go to press on Feb. 20, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office released a bombshell report authored by an Oregon State Police investigator. She found evidence that county corrections deputies encouraged—and sometimes participated in—a series of more than a dozen assaults of inmates at the county’s downtown jail in 2018 and 2019. Within hours, Lucas Manfield revealed on wweek.com the key allegations in the report. The most significant: that jail deputies did favors for members of the Hoover gang—including running drugs, bringing in contraband, and buzzing inmates into cells to beat up their rivals. On Feb. 23, WW reported that the Internal Affairs Unit saw the report three months before Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell did. Here’s what our readers had to say:
Bruce Poinsette, via Twitter: “The system at work. Dumping some more funding on them will probably work though, right?”
Tansy-Ragwarts, via Twitter: “This story is just wild. All of it.”
Mid County, via wweek.com: “Yet another article that selectively cherry picks out tidbits to enrage, yet lacks critically needed context. Why the unrelenting repeated public smearing of the sheriff and jail deputies over facts reported on previously? Slow news day? Easier to glean a few more out of context zingers from a previously ad nauseam reported-on finding than do some real investigative journalism? Portland police haven’t done something particularly ‘controversial’ lately? WW has yet to report on a number of police-involved shootings that occurred in the time frame in question.”
tydalt, via Reddit: “Reading through the article is chilling. The gang made these cops ‘honorary members’ ffs.”
Alreadyready, via wweek.com: “Corrupt law enforcement isn’t a gee-whiz! affair anymore, it’s literally the status quo. And perhaps most disturbing, is our so-called Top Cops, the FBI being fully aware of the level of criminality taking place within law enforcement departments across the nation, but letting it go on in spite of the overwhelming and damning evidence. Hall pass for club members, I suppose.”
ScoobyTreats, via Reddit: “OSP seems to have done a fantastic job with this investigation, and although the DA’s office will likely not pursue charges against them, that isn’t the end of the line. The standard of proof for administrative punishment is much lower, and this report would likely be used for discipline, including termination and decertification.”
@ChristopOConnor, via Twitter: “I hope legislators considering repeal of Measure 110 consider this in terms of how Oregon treats addiction, the reality of jail, the legitimacy of the jailers, and the credibility of the DAs and law enforcement.”
Tracy Bone, via Facebook: “First rule of fight club…”
Van-garde, via Reddit: “That’s fucked. It’s like they used fictional movies set in prisons for training.
“Every institution under scrutiny turns out to be staffed by disappointing humans.”
PC509, in reply: “Yet, there are so many stories from ex-cons that say the exact same thing. But, you can’t do shit about it.
“The system is fucked. ‘Back the blue,’ but the protectors seem to be the biggest offenders.
“We see the fictional movies and say that’s fucked up. We hear the stories from people that lived through prison time and say it’s fucked up. We hear stories like this and say it’s fucked up. In 20 years, there will be another story like this posted and we’ll say it’s fucked up... because absolutely nothing will change.”
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