Someone attached to Oregon here – it isn't, and it's even harder to retain people at current pay grades in state corrections medical. (Let alone public defense, which the article mentions means that people are being let go in many counties before non-drug-related charges are tried.)
This is the US in a nutshell. And then they wonder why the deficit is so high? Most expensive healthcare. Most expensive incarceration. Most expensive childcare. Most expensive infrastructure projects. Endless list.
The "deficit" is high because USD is the world reserve currency, and the government policy is to prevent natural deflation. The "deficit" should really be called the surplus as it represents the centralized gains of progress from everybody who is still willing to invest in America despite that collection.
The popular political movement aimed at reducing the "deficit" is really just part of the larger global movement to destroy the US's world leadership position, hence the related goal of ruining our relationships with our allies and whatnot.
Having said that, I agree that the dynamic here is a horrible waste of resources. Housing someone in an SRO (single room occupancy) without guards would cost like one quarter of what jail/prison costs.
