P a g e b P o r tla n d O b s e r v e r J u n e 19. 19HU
Cell Talk
Behind the Walls
by l.arry Baker »35021
()..S'. /*. ( 'orrespondent
By Delbert »38650
I am an inmate at the Oregon
State Penitentiary. Being from
Eastern Oregon, I am very aware ol
how very little the average person
there know about the corrections
branch o f government in Oregon.
I was born in Nyssa. I attended
school and grew up in the Vale area,
and I was employed in Ontario as a
Service Technician lo r O ntario
Photocopy Equipment Company.
So I guess you could say I’m native
to the area.
The State o l is the largest em
ployer in the state and corrections is
one o f the largest divisions within
this body and therefore takes a large
percent o f your tax dollar. So it is
only right that you might wonder
how this money is spent. I cannot
give you an itemized list o f expen
ditures, bu, I can tell you about one
small program here at the prison
that is funded by your tax dollars,
and has really helped me see the
light at the end o f the tunnel, so to
speak. I am speaking about the elec
tronics vocational training program
here, in which I am currently
enrolled.
Our instructor is M r. Don Rea.
fie is a competent and personable
man who takes his job seriously.
The class room is equipped to
handle ten students. The class is
taught so that each inmate can
progress at his own rate of learning.
Io qualify for the class you must
have good reading comprehension
and a knowledge o f basic a rith
metic. Also you must be within two
years ol your release date. It usually
takes from 12 to 14 months to com
plete the class.
Can we find jobs after completion
o f the class? Yes, in fact, the class
cannot turn out men fast enough to
meet the demand for their skills.
Besides employment, the class gives
many ol us something else we never
had when we came here. A sense ot
self worth.
What would I be doing if I wasn’t
in the program? Like many other
inmates, I would probably be
walking the Red Desert feeling sorry
to r myselt. I he Red Desert is a
name the old cons use to describe
the red cinder track which runs
around the prison yard. It’s kind o f
an inside joke here to speak about
the lost souls who wander the Red
Desert.
At the present time there is a new
V.T. building being constructed ad
jacent to (he old one and is slated
lor completion about September o f
this year. This new building w ill
almost double the current oppor
tunities as lar as vocational training
is concerned In my opinion, this is
money well spent.
One ol the more positive things
about the V. I . programs is that they
allow our V.T. instructors to go out
into the community one day each
month to help in job placement for
their students and also to keep
current with the latest techniques in
their respective fields.
I ’ m sure you have all heard many
negative things about prisons. While
many o f these are undoubtedly true,
there are many positive things a man
can do here in order to rehabilitate
him self. I feel that the V .T.
programs ottered here are o f major
importance in co n trib u tin g to
rehabilitation.
Message from the Superintendent
By Hoyt C. Cupp
Superintendent
Oregon State Penitentiary
As you are no doubt aware, the
Employee Bargaining Unit has given
us notification o f their intent for all
non-security s ta ff, (e.g., C oun
selors, Stewards, Maintenance,
Clerical, etc.) to go out on strike ef
fective Monday, June 16, 1980. This
will, in some instances, cause some
inconvenience lo r inmates and
remaining staff. Nevertheless, I am
committed to continuing to run the
institution as normally as possible
during this period.
During the period ot the strike, all
lines and activities will run as nor
mal, with the exception of:
- Education Department.
- The ABE Program w ill be
closed.
- College Program operation will
depend on how many professors
come to work.
- Vocational Training Program
will be closed.
- The Industries swing shift will be
closed.
- Inmates assigned to swing shift
w ill be provided jobs during the
regular day shift.
- Physical Plant assignments will
be curtailed. Selected inmates nor
mally assigned to the Physical Plant
w ill be “ on call’ ’ should Physical
Plant management stall need their
services
It is not my desire that inmate pay
be entirely terminated as a result o f
the strike. To offset pay loss, in
mates not working due to suspended
operations will continue to earn pay
up to the first 5 days o f the strike.
Good times will continue to be ac-
curued
w ithout
in te rru p tio n
throughout the duration o f the em
ployee work stoppage.
Counseling Services w ill be
provided. Please confine requests
lo r counseling services to urgent
needs. Interview Requests w ill be
screened for that purpose.
E X 0 D U S
'
By Asmar A bdul Seijulluh
(aka Joe West » 40404
David Wright » 39816
Assistant Editor
rfrr<t//rr//r// a » r / Jfle rr/w e » / ('e n fe t
1518 N E KILLINGSWORTH
By M alik A hmad Sabr A h
(aka Alvin H. Canell 33512)
We have written, we have asked,
we have appealed to you in every
way ftossihle for us, but the respose
has been a silent one. I would now
like to ask you a couple questions
but your answers should be directed
to the honesty o f your heart and the
truthfulness o f your mind.
What would be the effect on you
if you were I ) accused by a white so-
called victim o f a crime that really
never took place like they say it did.
2) Arrested by a sea o f white police.
3) Jailed by w hite ja ile rs. 4)
Prosecuted by a white prosecutor. 5)
Sent to a racist prison; racist by its
very conception and design. 8)
Dehumanized by while guards?
1. W ould you say “ this is
justice?”
2. Would you plead for help?
3. Would you kill yourself?
4. Would you adjust?
5. W ould you ignore the whole
things?
6. None o f the above....
What would be the effect on you
if: You were sent to prison from a
m orally and financially bankrupt
section o f a very wealthy city, and
you left behind loved ones and
friends who haven’ t the means t,o
provide for themselves, not from
laziness, but from lack o f jobs and
lack ol equal opportunity to acquire
decent jobs?
1. Would you worry?
2. W ould you be angry at the
system?
3. W ould you wish you could
work her for SI .00 a day to help at
home?
4. Would you ignore it?
5. None o f the above...
What would be the effect on you
if: Once you got to prison you saw
A ll other activities such as
Recreation Yard, Activities, Can
teen, Visiting, etc.,, w ill continue
as normal. To dispel any rumors, I
see no need whatsoever to im
plement any kind o f lockdown.
Again, it w ill be unfortunate if
the employee work stoppage occurs.
It w ill require extra tolerance and
patience on the part o f us all. Your
cooperation is requested. You can
be assured we will continue to do all
we can to seek early resolution to
this situation.
personnel who were less moral, less
educated and less needy than the
com m unity from which you were
stolen, “ earn from $1,000 to 51,700
dollars a month” by telling grown
men to “ take o ff your hat, tuck
your shirt in, cell in " and locking
doors?
1. Would you say, “ if my people
could get jobs like this, we wouldn’ t
be subjected to prison nearly as
much as we are now?
2. Would you despise the system
for systematic racism?
3. W ould you challenge the
fam ily a ffa ir here to provide our
people jobs (hat would help meet
the rise o f inflation?
4. Would you ignore it?
5. None o f the above....
What would you do it your wife
and your babies drove fifty miles,
used a tank o f gas and three hours
travel time to visit you and then,
a fte r they got here, were only
allowed one hour visitin g tim e
because o f lack o f visiting space in
the Oregon State Penitentiary, when
it is designed to hold 1107 men, but
the visiting room is only designed
for 120 people?
1. Would you quietly submit to
this cold treatment, when you’ ve
waited seven to fourteen days to see
your family and have tolerated the
bullshit o f O.S.P., just trying to
keep cool until your fam ily could
come and comfort you.
2. Would you ignore it and say
"A h , such is prison?”
1. Would you accuse your people
of not writing (breaking your own
ties with the outside world)?
2. Would you accept it?
3. Would you question the mail
room?
4. Would you ignore it?
5. None ol the above...
We are under such conditions
here and we don’t know really what
to do. We know that something
could be done with your help! We
wonder alot. We wonder why won't
the urban League, the N .A .A .C .P .,
The Black United Front, in concert,
or individually, sponsor workshops
inside O.S.P., to find out what we
need while we are here and after we
leave here. This could grow into a
national project. It could get federal
funding to help both communities,
i.e. the community in Portland and
the second largest Black population
politics, human and civil rights; it is
very much needed.
We have anywhere from 400 to
500 Black men in the corrections
system in Salem. Surely this number
is large enough to cause concern to
the leaders o f our people. The whole
world is concerned and in an uproar
over 53 hostages in Iran; hostages
that were somewhere they had no
business being in the first place!
I f we here, could get the concern,
or l/10th the concern that Amerika
has fo r the hostages in Iran, we
could get some instant straighten up
in the Oregon crim in a l justice
system and in Oregon State Peniten
tiary.
3. Would you scream and shout?
4. Would you_______________ ?
5. None o f the above.
What would you do if you spoke
out against the powers that be, and
suddenly your mail stopped coming,
but you knew your wife and family
wrote everyday?
What would you be doing if you
were here? Think about it cause it is
not im possible fo r you to come.
Oregon knows that the Black man
has no one to come to his aid, so
they do with him as they damn well
please.
Pacific
Power
Citizen
o f the Week
PORTLAND OREGON 9721 1
284 7997
FROM THE FRONT DOOR
B Y TO M BOO THE
From the front door, I was asked by a Minister (Preacher), from one ot our local Churches
here in Portland to publish my opinion of the Mt. St. Helens volcano. I felt that this request
was a "Trick or Dare’’ confrontation However, I decided to take the bite.
From the front door, I saw the Mt. St. Helens volcano as a clear act ot geological Patience,
Pow er and Pressure I also saw the reaction ot People demonstrated as P atience,
Powerless and Frustration. I saw no change in the human attitude toward natural
phenomenon.
When it is cold human beings seek to stay warm, and by and large they succeed, by their
own discoveries, creations and patience.
When it is warm, human beings seek to stay cool, and by and large they succeed by their
own discoveries, creations and patience.
When it rains or snows, human beings seek to stay dry, and by and large they succeed by
their own discoveries, creations and patience.
When there are electric storms, tornados and hurricanes, human beings seek shelter and by
their own instinct and logic by and large they are saved.
When there are earthquakes and tidal waves, human beings instinctively seek shelter and
move from the path of the storm and by and large they succeed and are saved.
Historically, when and where there are natural powerful activities, and human beings are
around, their instincts surface and makes a bid to survive.
Remember, that when the Mt. St. Helens volcano erupted there were those who heeded the
warnings, both ot the mountain and of those who predicted the possible impending
dangers; and there were those who did not. Lets not forget that the forces of nature almost
never acts without warning, but in all cases, without exception, there are those who heed
the warnings; and there are those who do not.
The Mt. St. Helens volcano experience is as Sim ple, or, as C om plex as any other natural
phenomenon - think about the simplicity or the complexity of a snow flake or a rain drop —
can anyone on earth truly know and measure the dimensions of Powers, Pressures, and
Patience that it takes to bring just one snow flake or rain drop into reality.
Children
(Continued from Page I Col 6)
large particles takes place.
Small children may at times
swallow some o f the ash. Evidence
to date suggests that ingestion o f ash
is not a hazard to the health o f
children and adults.
C hildren should ce rtainly be
prevented from playing in areas
where ash is deep on the ground or
piled up, especially if they are likely
to lie or ro ll in the ash. M ore
frequent cleaning o f home interior
areas where children play w ill
minimize the amount o f indoor ash
exposure in areas o f heavy past or
future ashfalls.
Since there is the potential for
fu rth e r ashfalls, it would be ap
propriate for families to obtain a
mask fo r each member and to
discuss their use.
A PERSONAL MOMENT
FOR THOSE W HO CARE
The airplane the Wright
Brothers flew is little more than
a distant cousin to the jet liners
of today. The first radio is even
farther than a distant cousin to
modern day television. Im
proving on the original makes
the object a part of many
through their contributions.
The only thing that offers per
fection from the start Is love. A
perfect love cannot be im
proved.
1979 Wm A Kummet
laaaaaaaaaaiiiiaiaiiiiaaaaaaaaaaii
PRESENTED BY
When human beings experienced their first snow storm, they may have appeared as in
trigued, frustrated and as helpless as we here now have felt toward the Mt. St. Helens
volcano. When you think about it, the first snow storm was probably far more frightening to
the people who experienced it, than, Mt. St. Helens is to us, I imagine the questions were
the same: When it it going to stop? What is it doing now? Is it dangerous or toxic? Whet s
causing it? How do I get rid of it? How will it effect our future? Why is it doing it at this time?
Mt St. Helens is our first direct experience with a mountain that spews ash, dust end steam,
on an intarmittence schedule.
From the front door, I concluded that the M t. St. Helens volcano was just another one of
nature s old Professors calling its class to order; and as in all classes, there are some
Students who will learn, and there will be some who will not.
AMERICAN
STATE
BANK
273/ N.E. Union
282 221«
laaaaaavaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaia
Ronnie Herndon is best known for his service as co-chairman of
the Black United Front. Under his leadership the Black community
has united as never before around the issue ot education ot black
children. The recent successful boycott of the public schools
demonstrated that the BUF does express the legitimate concerns of
Black parents.
Herndon was born and raised in Coffeyville, Kansas, and came to
Portland in 1968. He attended Reed College where he earned a
degree in History in 1970. "The things I learned that are worthwhile
were not learned at Reed College," Herndon says, adding that his
college experience at Reed was anything but pleasant.
Soon after graduation he established the Black Education Center
to provide for the academic, cultural and psychological needs of
Black elementary age school children. The next year he founded
Talking Drum Bookstore to provide the Black people ot Portland
easy access to information on their history and culture.
Herndon is director of the Albina Ministerial Alliance Child
Development Center, a full day headstart program.
For many years Ronnie Herndon has been identified as a man who
will contribute much to his community. Bright, articulate, dedicated,
with strong convictions and strength of purpose, Herndon is an in
spiration to young and old. Young people look up to him, older
people love him. With pride we present him as our "Citizen of the
W eek."
BROUGHTTO YOU BY
Pacific
Power