The Rocky Butte jail, completed in 1947, served as the major facility for male prisoners in Multnomah County, with a courtyard and recreation field. According to Rubin (1973), the Rocky Butte jail housed 320 inmates, but Houston, Gibbons, and Jones (1988) claimed that it often exceeded this limit. The jail also had a library, which was established in 1967 and housed 3,000 volumes. In general, the jail was known for being the subject of multiple grand jury investigations for security concerns, dirty conditions, access to drugs, violence, lack of organized programming, and most notably, during the 1960s and 1970s for severe overcrowding. Further attempts to replace the Rocky Butte jail were motivated by a successful escape in 1981 and a gun smuggling incident that resulted in an officer being shot in 1982. The Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) was built in downtown Portland after Rocky Butte Jail was demolished during the 1980s The Rocky Butte Jail and MCDC participated in a study on prisons, which was published in 1988 in the journal "Crime & Delinquency".