Local News

Criminals who are facing felony charges and skip out on court beware; the justice system has you in its crosshairs.

The Supervisory Authority, a group formed of local justice system organizations, met today and have determined that the new priority for the jail is to house suspects who have failed to appear multiple times on felony warrants.

Josephine County Community Corrections Director Abe Huntley says since the Criminal Justice Levy failed criminals have been taking advantage of the weakened justice system and it is time that came to an end. “We wanted to change their minds, at least for those that thought they were just going to be cited to appear again and again. They may see a little change in that practice,” Huntley said.

Sheriff Gil Gilbertson said Thursday that once a consensus was made amongst the Supervisory Authority that the jail would take in inmates up to the 99 inmate capacity and then it would be under Jail Commander Vicki Smith’s review to determine what lesser criminal would be released if one that posed a greater danger to society was arrested.

As of this afternoon, 75 out of 99 inmates are lodged in the county jail.