S tr e e t R o o ts • A u g u s t 1 9 -2 5 , 2 0 1 6
Commentary
P ag e 12
Plan for second women’s prison bad idea for Oregon
BY SHANNON WIGHT
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
t the end of September, the
Emergency Board of the Oregon
State Legislature will consider a
request from the Department of Corrections
(DOC) for nearly $10 million to open a
second prison for women in Oregon. This
decision would sidestep several
rehabilitative programs already in place,
overburden the state’s budget, and send
Oregon retreating from the progress we’ve
made away from over-incarceration.
Since 2007, the rate of men going to
prison in Oregon has increased just over 2
percent, while the rate for women has
increased a shocking 22 percent. In addition
to their high rate of incarceration, women in
Oregon’s prison are more likely to be there
for drug and property crimes (rather than
violent offenses) than men. In 2015, nearly
70 percent of women sent to prison were
convicted of drug or property crimes.
The DOC is under pressure to open a
second prison because the Coffee Creek
Correction Facility for Women, Oregon’s
only women’s prison, is over capacity, which
is detrimental to both the women
incarcerated there and the correctional staff
who work there. To accommodate the
population, women are “double-bunked” and
recreational spaces are used as dorms
instead of for programming that increases
their livelihood of successfully re-entering
our communities. All of these factors create
safety risks for everyone.
Unfortunately, DOC has only one tool to
A
Shannon Wight is the deputy director at
Partnership fo r Safety and Justice, a statewide,
nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to
m aking Oregon’s approach to crime and public
safety more effective a nd just.
address the overcrowding: open more
prison beds. There are others in
government, however, who could make
better decisions. Prosecutors and legislators
hold the power to make a different choice
about how Oregon spends $10 million on
women convicted of crime.
District attorneys make individual
sentencing decisions every day, and with
the prison population over capacity by
approximately 20 beds, they could hold
women accountable by immediately
diverting them into programs that would
better support their long-term success. This
move alone would improve outcomes while
also averting the need to open another
prison for women.
In the longer term, legislators can
prepare to pass much-needed sentencing
reforms during the 2017 legislative session.
It’s more critical than ever to fund
programs that address the issues that often
underlie women’s incarceration such as
addiction, mental illness, and domestic
abuse, which would be key in addressing
Oregon’s growing rate of incarceration.
Over the past few legislatives sessions,
Partnership for Safety and Justice (PSJ) has
helped lead efforts to responsibly reduce
the number of people going to prison and
invest those savings into local communities
for preventive programs and services
including addiction and mental health
treatment, housing, and victims’ services.
Due to the sausage-making nature of passing
legislation, none of these efforts has gone as
far as needed.
In 2017, PSJ will be asking legislators to
expand two existing pieces of legislation
that can help decrease the number of
women going to prison and increase their
likelihood to succeed in the future.
First is an expansion of the Family
Sentencing Alternative, a policy passed in
2015 that helps keep parents and children
together by giving prison-bound parents an
opportunity for assessment to determine if
they qualify to receive intensive supervision
and services while remaining united with
their children.
Second is expanding short-term
transitional leave, which originally passed in
2013. This program is a collaboration
between state and local correctional
agencies that incentivizes good behavior in
prison and provides additional support for
transition from prison back to the
community.
When the session begins in February,
legislators should work to pass legislation
and fund community-based programs that
will not only reduce the need for a new
prison, but help create more successful
individuals and safer and stronger
communities.
For now, though, we must look to county
prosecutors to avoid this unnecessary state
expense. Due to mandatory sentencing laws
in Oregon, prosecutors have almost absolute
control over who goes to prison and for how
long. Instead of spending millions to open a
new prison for women, legislators should be
asking prosecutors to find more appropriate
ways to sanction and support women who
would otherwise go to prison when other
approaches to accountability are more
effective.
Opening a new prison will not lower the
rates of non-violent crimes, nor will it
reduce the number of people affected by
such crimes. We know that the most
effective approaches to crime involve
accountability, treatment and services to
help people chart new and successful paths.
Helping our community means investing in
such programs, not incarcerating more
women for non-violent offenses.
In September, legislators on the
Emergency Board should deny DOC’s
request to open another prison for women.
Instead, they should ask district attorneys to
divert some of the 70 percent of women
going to prison for non-violent crimes into
more appropriate supervision and services,
and they should support increased funding
for those services that bring t h e o u tc o m e s
we expect from an effective public safety
system.
V
PHC
S jg g g g T
5312 NE 148th Ave.
Portland, OR 97Z3O
Free career training for persons w ith disabilities
in janitorial an d building m aintenance
OHP Navigation Clinics
CareOregon and our partners make Oregon Health Plan navigation easy!
We offer help with:
• Medicaid medical, dental and mental health appointments
• Medicare eligibility for disabled and elderly adults
Requirements: •
... •
•
............. ..
\
•*
*•
.................
••• *
•
Disabilities:
Documented proof o f disability
Rrofiaency in understanding and speaking
English
Pass criminal background check
Pass drug test
Physical, mental health, intellectual,
developm ental, and learning
Find us at these locations
Bud Clark Commons
665 NW Hoyt Ave
08/17/2016...... 8-10 a.m.
08/31/2016...... 8-10 a.m.
City Team Portland
526 SE Grand Ave
08/10/2016..... 8-10 a.m.
Portland Rescue Mission
111 W Burnside
08/11/2016............ 8-10 a.m.
08/18/2016............ 8-10 a.m.
08/25/2016..... 8-10 a.m.
09/01/2016............ 8-10 a.m.
Q uestions?
Union Gospel Mission
3 SW 3rd Ave
08/23/2016...... 2-4 p.m.
08/30/2016...... 2-4 p.m.
Clackamas County
Transition Center
2223 Kaen Rd, Oregon City
08/10/2016....... 1-3 p.m. Virginia Garcia Health Fair
08/24/2016...... 1-3 p.m.
1151 N Adair St, Cornelius
08/12/2016....... All day!
‘ACTUAL PHONE MAY VARY.
Please Call: (503)261-1266
or (800) 874-7917
email: careers@phcnw.com