SALEM, Ore. -- The Oregon Department of Corrections will be releasing 206 state prison inmates to federal customs agents, who will deport them to their home countries, according to a compromise agreement reached Thursday.
The deal only affects inmates with less than six months of prison time remaining under their original sentence, according to the Oregonian, and the overwhelming majority are Mexico nationals. There are more than 1,200 illegal aliens in Oregon's prison system.
Under the original terms of the deal - which the Legislature devised as a money-saving step during the 2009 regular session - Oreogn would have allegedly saved $700,000 by Dec. 1, 2009. That deal was held up by legalities concerning the federal handover, the paper reported.
Inmates also must agree to take part in the "amnesty."
As of Thursday, six inmates had their original sentences commuted, while others were preparing to move. Still others, however, declined to leave Oregon's jails, since participating means waiving any deportation challenges and a 20-year federal sentence if caught in the country again, illegally.
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