Page 10
News
SI
a
n .....
.
Oregon State Penitentiary is a maximum-security prison in Salem, operated by the Oregon Department of Corrections.
BY EMILY GREEN
STAFF WRITER
ocal civil rights groups are asking
Oregon Department of Corrections
for increased transparency and an
audit of disciplinary actions taken against
inmates. They’re also demanding reforms to
the way it transfers inmates between its
facilities and answers to questions about the
transfer of a specific inmate in August
On Sept 19, representatives from ACLU
of Oregon, Voz Hispana Cambio
Comunitario and Don’t Shoot Portland, as a
part of the Black Lives Matter movement,
met with state corrections director Colette
Peters and several other DOC staff at
Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.
They brought with them letters signed by
roughly 100 Portland-area community
members and local civil rights and religious
leaders, asking for a revision of the state
corrections department’s disciplinary and
transfer policies and, specifically, how they
are applied to African-American and Latino
inmates.
“We have anecdotal reports from folks
that are incarcerated that these policies are
being applied disproportionately to certain
communities of black and brown people,”
said Mat dos Santos, ACLU of Oregon’s
legal director.
Additionally, he said ACLU of Oregon has
“concerns about the transparency of DOC’s
disciplinary policies and the transparency
about policies relating to transfers.”
When inmates are transferred to facilities
L
far from their communities, it creates
hope having that evidence would pave the
barriers to visitation.
way for reforms within DOC.
According to research compiled by Prison
In their letter, the activists also requested
Policy Initiative, just 31 percent of people in
increased services for African-American and
America’s state prisons receive a visit from
Latino inmates and their families.
a loved one in a typical month, though a
“breadth of research” shows maintaining
oz Hispana and Don’t Shoot Portland
contact with family and receiving visitors are
also asked Peters for the return of
among the best ways to keep prisoners from
Oregon State Penitentiary’s Latino Club
reoffending after their release.
president, inmate Rafael Mora-Contreras,
Francisco Lopez, political director of Vbz
whom they said was transferred to Two
Hispana Cambio
Rivers Correctional
"We have anecdotal
Comunitario, said his
Institution in Umatilla
organization also believes reports from folks that are earlier this year with no
transfer policies and
explanation given to his
incarcerated that these
disciplinary actions
policies are being applied friends and family.
disproportionately affect
A DOC spokesperson
disproportionately to
inmates of color based
told Street Roots she
certain communities of
on phone calls his office
could not access any
black and brown people." information regarding
receives from their
families.
MAT DOS SANTOS, Mora-Contreras’ transfer.
He echoed dos Santos’ legal director , ACLU OF OREGON
Letters and documents
concerns regarding
provided to Street Roots
DOC’s lack of transparency around DOC
by supporters of Mora-Contreras raise
handling of inmates, saying it causes
questions about correctional staff’s
confusion and hardships for their loved ones
treatment of prisoners of different
on the outside, especially when an inmate is
ethnicities within the walls of Oregon’s
transferred to a prison far from where they
correctional institutions, but an analysis that
live.
would either back up or disprove these
Lopez said he and the other activists
claims does not exist
asked Peters for an audit “of the department
Lopez walked away from the meeting
and an audit of issues that are arising there
hopeful, saying the response from Peters
in terms of communities of color -
was “very positive.”
especially African Americans and Latinos.”
Peters issued the following statement in
They believe an audit would confirm then-
an email response to Street Roots’ inquiry
suspicions that these inmates are treated
regarding her recent meeting with the
more harshly than white inmates, and they
activists in Salem: “It was a valuable
V
Street Roots • Oct. 21 -27, 2016
STREET ROOTS PHOTO
meeting. I always appreciate it when the
community brings issues and concerns
forward, and I look forward to the
collaboration between DOC, Voz Hispana
Cambio Comunitario, and Don’t Shoot
Portland.”
DOC spokesperson Betty Bernt said in
the same email response that Peters and
DOC have agreed to look into the issues
brought forward in the letter; however, no
decisions or actions have yet been decided.
She wrote, “We will take all input into
consideration as we move forward.”
In response to an inquiry about data on
disciplinary policies, Bernt wrote, “We do
not have any existing reports that speak to
disciplinary policies being applied
disproportionately to any ethnic group.”
The civil rights groups have not yet
received a formal response from DOC in
regard to their requests, but are scheduled
to meet with DOC again on Oct 25.
Mora-Contreras’ mother, Elpidia Mora,
told Street Roots with the help of a
translator that she has trouble
communicating with DOC because she does
not speak English. When her son was placed
in solitary confinement for more than two
months between April and June of this year,
the effect on her family was devastating.
She became tearful as she recalled the
first 15 days her son was in solitary
confinement She said she knew something
was wrong because he stopped calling, but
she had no idea what it was.
See PRISONERS, page 11