Oregon could spare itself a continuing run-up in its billion-dollar prison system with changes to sentences, parolee programs and juvenile justice, a state commission concluded today.

The seven-member Commission on Public Safety suggested broad reforms in a report heading Friday to Gov. John Kitzhaber, who appointed the group.

The report was to be the commission’s final act, but its first recommendation in a draft copy obtained by The Oregonian is that the governor keep it alive into 2013 and add members.

The time is needed, the commission said, to figure the best way to overhaul Oregon’s sentencing policies, a patchwork of decades-old guidelines, recent voter initiatives and legislative actions.

via Commission says Oregon can avoid big run-up in prison costs | OregonLive.com.