SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM ܂ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2018 ܂ 3B
Prison
Continued from Page 2B
report, Disability Rights
Oregon and the Oregon
Department of Correc-
tions signed a memoran-
dum of understanding in
2016. In the memoran-
dum, prison officials
promised to increase
staffing, access to psychi-
atric care and out-of-cell
time.
Within four years, in-
mates inside the behav-
ioral health unit were ex-
pected to receive an aver-
age of 10 hours of struc-
tured time and 10 hours of
unstructured time out-
side their cells every
week. Time out of their
cells could include meals,
phone calls, playing
games, receiving mental
health treatment and tak-
ing classes.
Now at the midpoint of
that four-year goal, Dis-
ability Rights Oregon Ex-
ecutive Director Bob
Joondeph said he's trou-
bled by the lack of pro-
gress toward reducing the
number of hours spent in
solitary confinement.
During the final quar-
ter of 2017, behavioral
health inmates spent an
average of almost 23
hours a day in confine-
ment. In that same time
period, almost three of
every four inmates spent
less than an hour out of
cell per day.
"We're very concerned
that we're not going to
reach our goal," Joondeph
said. "We haven't really
moved the needle."
With the hiring of four
additional qualified men-
tal
health
providers
—bringing the total as-
signed to the unit in 2017
up to nine — and a new
space for therapeutic ac-
tivities, Joondeph is hop-
ing to see some progress.
However, it seems un-
likely prison officials will
reach their goal of pro-
tecting inmates with seri-
ous mental health condi-
tions from the cruel and
unusual punishment of
solitary confinement, he
added.
"People shouldn't be
subjected to things that
are akin to torture," Joon-
deph said.
In a letter, Oregon De-
partment of Corrections
Director Colette Peters
said the department has
worked digitally at laying
the foundation to meet
the goals and has made
"substantial
strides"
reaching them.
She outlined success-
es such as increasing
treatment space with the
addition of a new $2.1
million building for group
and individual therapy in
June 2018.
Peters also said be-
cause of nice weather and
additional outdoor recre-
ational opportunities, the
department exceeded its
10-hour goal unstruc-
tured time goal for two
weeks this past fall.
In January 2016, the
unstructured out-of-cell
time for inmates averages
1.53 hours a week. The
time had increased to 6.1
hours by March 2018, she
said.
Peters cited the suc-
cess of the BHU Bucks
Program, a system to re-
ward positive behavior.
Using funding from
the legislature, the de-
partment will be able to
recruit for or fill positions
for 15 additional security
staff, five mental health
professionals, four sup-
port staff and one correc-
tional counselor by May.
"Although we have not
reached our goals yet, we
knew at the beginning
that there would be sub-
stantial known and un-
known hurdles to over-
come," Peters said.
"We believe all of our
efforts are the foundation
to meet the MOU com-
mitments by the end of
2019."
Joondeph said ex-
cuses of bad weather and
inmates unwilling to
leave their cells are unac-
ceptable.
A previous investigation found that prisoners were housed for months at a time, even years, in cells
6-feet-wide and 10-feet-deep with only a thin mattress on a concrete platform and a stainless steel
plumbing unit. PHOTO COURTESY OF DISABILITY RIGHTS OREGON
"If we are going to have
an effective prison sys-
tem, we can't blame the
rain," he said.
And if prisoners are re-
luctant to leave their
cells, Joondeph added,
officials need to analyze
the reasons why. Are they
afraid for their safety? Do
they need therapeutic in-
terventions? Do they
have any incentive to
come out?
Positive progress has
been made since 2016,
the report pointed out.
The department of
corrections has reduced
the number of incidents
involving the use of force
by staff and self-mutila-
tion by inmates. In-
creased training and col-
laboration between secu-
rity and clinicians have
made the unit a better en-
vironment for treatment.
In light of DOC's fail-
ure to "meet its bench-
marks for humane treat-
ment of prisoners," Dis-
ability Rights Oregon rec-
ommended
the
department move swiftly
to end solitary confine-
ment and isolation, in-
cluding abolishing the
isolation of prisoners
with mental illness and
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