Wait, so at the end of this story the contractors decided the job was too difficult and instead prisoners should be forced to clean it up instead? Or were they just complaining?

No. That's just what happens. The disgusting trash gets handled by inmates. The much-more limited—and less foul—things they determine constitute personal property they pack up and save for a month.

How many campers have been peaceably removed like this? Four Portland police officers doing their job appropriately - unsensational, routine work executed without harm. Happens every day. Benefits the public for using this beautiful nature area. Yet you don't mention this in relation to your prodigal coverage of the much rarer instances where violence occurs or someone is killed; nor do you tag it with any police-related tags, though you did for every other organization involved.

Papier: Fair point on the tag. I added one. The four officers who worked this clean-up were professional and courteous throughout. That doesn't mean we're not going to report it when a homeless person is killed by an officer on the Springwater Corridor.

The really sad thing about a lot of these guys is that they're unhouseable. I've lived in low-income housing and these guys generally don't last long before drug selling or manufacture, violence, and theft cause them to get evicted. I'm at a loss as to what to do that's humane and not a violation of the constitution; there may be none.