dan spreurpbg is on this in the pacific northwest. jails all over the country are releasing low-level offenders, but this is something else entirely. how come? reporter: well, bill it s shocking when you look at the list of crimes they were in for. robbery, strangulation. selling drugs to kids and those believe it or not are some of the less serious offenses. three of the men that are freed are charged with measure 11 crimes, among them manslaughter and vehicular homicide. they could not post bail and if convicted will have to serve every day of their sentences. relatives of the victims are obviously outraged. 46-year-old allen platt was beaten to death. they say aaron krur reconfessed to the crimaaron curry was released with an ankle bracelet. i m angry he gets to go out and enjoy his freedom. my brother has none of that. he is gone and there is nothing that can bring him back,
nothing. reporter: right now lane county is only filling 152 of its 507-bed jail. bill: some are blaming the federal government for this. why would that be, dan? reporter: lane county was forced to cut a hundred million dollars out of its budget this year. a big portion of that came from the sheriff s office budget. they eliminated 64 positions, including 28 deputies. that forced the sheriff to close one whole wing of the jail and cut down patrols 16 hours. if you need a deputy eight hours out of the day you re out of luck. the federal government is blamed because it owns the majority of the land in the county. most of it is national force that employed thousands of people and received tax revenue from timber sales. the sales have been dwindling for years. lane county used to get $50 million in timber payments, this year it got 3 million. i think about the employment that would happen if we put the