Andy Tullis / Bulletin file photoA resident at the Bethlehem Inn walks past the front office in this June, 2014 photo. The emergency shelter in Bend is recommended to receive a $250,000 grant from the Bend City Council.

Starting this month, people recently released from prison will be able to live at a Bend homeless shelter through a new state program.

Deschutes County Adult Parole & Probation will rent five beds from the Bethlehem Inn, according to the shelter’s executive director, Gwenn Wysling.

The initiative will be funded by the county’s share of state funds for the Justice Reinvestment Program prompted by Oregon House Bill 3194, which delayed the construction of a prison in Junction City in favor of reinvesting the savings in local crime prevention initiatives.

The state will pay the shelter $3,000 per month for the arrangement. The cost per inmate in a state prison, at $87.04 per day, is about $30,000 per year, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections.

The program aims to fill what advocates say is a hole in getting people who have served time back on their feet: a stable place to land while they find housing of their own plus employment and any treatment they may need.

Wysling said Thursday that the shelter looked to parole and probation, with which it has had a consistent relationship, for support in housing recent offenders. The shelter has had a high occupancy rate recently, and purchased three new bunk beds, repurposing a maintenance room to accommodate the capacity expansion.

“People may find themselves in difficult situations when they don’t have a rental history in a very tough market,” she said. “(It’s a) place to stay focused and be held accountable.”

The program is targeted at offenders who are on short-term transitional leave, a term for when a prisoner is deemed eligible to be released early, according to Ken Hales, director of Deschutes County Community Justice.

House Bill 3194 extended the length of short-term transitional leave from 30 days to 90 days. The only offenders categorically exempted from the program are those convicted of sex crimes.

“The number one factor for not being accepted (for short-term transitional leave) is housing, ” Hales said. He said a lack of housing can undermine an offender’s ability to succeed on leave and makes it hard for parole and probation officers to check in regularly with their clients.

Each resident of the Bethlehem Inn must pass an alcohol test, drug test and not be registered as a sex offender. Curfew is at 5:45 p.m. and residents are expected to be off-site from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

People who are in the parole and probation program will live among the shelter’s general population, in rooms that sleep six. In addition to a Bethlehem Inn case worker, participants will also be supervised by a parole and probation officer from the county.

According to the shelter, residents must also participate in chores and practice good hygiene. Staff are permitted to enter rooms at the facility at any time.

— Reporter: 541-383-0376, cwithycombe@bendbulletin.com