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Black Prisoners Speak Out
Part II of II
by Nyewusi Askari
EDITOR'S NOTE: On October 23. 1987, the Portland Observer News
paper received a letter from Oregon State Penitentiary inmate John
D. Leftridge II. The letter requested an interview. The interview,
it said, was needed in order to give the Black community "a detailed
scenario of illegal activities and wrong-doings at OSP."
On Nov. 6, 1987. after some lengthy discussions, the Observer
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granted the interview._______________ ___________________ ______
Years ago, when the Black community charged that the Oregon criminal
justice system was sending a disproportionate number of Blacks to prison,
state administrators reacted less than favorably. Some officials rumored that
the community didn’t know what it was talking about and should leave
prison matters alone. When the community suggested that racial discrimi
nation might be a significant cause, it was accused of distortion. Now, it
appears that the community was right after all.
Evidence of racial discrimination has emerged in a study commissione
by The State Criminal Justice Council. The evidence strongly suggests that
a disproportionate number of Black prisoners are receiving more sever penal
ties and are serving longer prison sentences than white. According to the
study these prisoners are given poor ratings when they are sentenced,
poor rating strongly indicates that a prisoner is likely to continue to commit
crimes and is considered a worse or high-risk offender. After receiving this
type of classification, the prisoner is given a longer sentence to serve.
The study, conducted by The national Council on Crime and Delin
quency (for the Oregon Criminal Justice Council), found that in 1984, of the
1,398 prisoners who were released from state prisons, 1,094 were white -
only 171 were Black. More astounding was the fact that although Blacks
make up only 1.4 percent of Oregon's population, Black prisoners make up
12 percent of the prison population. In 1983, Oregon ranked fifth among
prisons in the nation that had high incarceration rates for Blacks.
According to inmates Leftridge III, Gaines and Armas, the practice of
racial discrimination in the criminal justice system is alive and well.
"Is it because we are Black that this practice continues? We're trying to
convince ourselves that, in 1987, this way of thinking don't exist, but the
evidence is all around us! For example, it was obvious to all of the Black
prisoners here that the guy they had in job assignments was of that material.
He's been removed since I filed a lawsuit, Leftridge said.
Gaines added, "A ny position you find around here (OSP), even down in
the laundry, there is discrimination. It's clearly segregated. We have a new
warden and it is my personal belief that the man is trying to do the right
thing but he's been undermined by the good o l'b oy system. He might order
something to be done, but he can't be here twenty-four hours a day~ It
appears to many of us Black prisoners that Michael Franke (Director of Cor
rections) and Scott McAlister (Assistant Attorney General) run the whole
thing. There is disparity in the application of good time for minorities, dis-
Darity in job assignments, and disparity in housing.
Last year, Black prisoners charged that Oregon State Penitentiary was
not hiring sufficient numbers of Blacks for inmate clerks' jobs, and that
several prison guards had participated in racial name-calling
Al Chandler, Director of Classification, said that the Uhuru Sa Sa Club
a while back had raised concerns that Black prisoners were not getting a fair
shake in the prison industries. ''W e went through and did a calculation and
(c). With Gaines are John D. Leftridge (I) and Julian R. Armos (r).
“Anv position you find around here, even down in the laundry, there is
discrimination. It’s clearly segregated,” according to George A. Gaines
found that some Blacks were not receiving jobs of certain types. We are
presently attempting to resolve that situation.
According to Ron Martin, Minority Specialist for OSP, You see, one of
the problems is the clerks. As of right now we have ten industry inmate
clerks, all white, and there are various reasons for that. I had a meeting with
three industrial officials a couple of weeks ago, and we are working together
to solve the problem. The main problem is the lack of minority inmates with
the skills needed to be clerks, or those that have the skills don't want the
job. Right now I have three people who've come forth wanting the job
John Leftridge is one of them. It's not always the fact that they don't hire
them, sometimes its the fact that they can't find the inmates with the skills
or the desire for that kind of position."
State correctional officials have said that the Department of Corrections
is attempting to fulfill its affirmative action goal of hiring minority staff mem
bers in proportion to the number of minority inmates. Currently, the minority
staff at Oregon State Penitentiary number 14. Among that number are two
sergeants and two corporals.
A 1986 investigation verified Black prisoners' complaints of racial name
calling by prison guards. They were reprimanded by Superintendent Fred
Mass.
Aware of the negative image many Black prisoners have in the Black
community, a move is underway to imolement a culture-history program.
Photo by Richard J. Brown
Gaines explained: "W e are attempting to catch the young Brothers when
they walk through the gates. We try to inform them of what this place is,
and how it will destroy them if they don’t get involved with some kind of
education of the mind. We want them to learn about their proud and glor
ious history. We emphasize community responsibility and the need to contri
bute to our neighborhoods instead of always taking. Many of us were never
taught Black history. We were never told anything about Black culture. So
we existed half of our lives not knowing who we were. We didn't know that
we had any reason to be other than what we were. We re trying to change
that now There are alot of young Black men here, and if we don't help them
now, they are going to come back to the community prepared to do nothing
but destroy."
Black prisoners and prison officials agree that more support services are
needed in the Black community. The absence of such services, including
work release centers and half-way houses, often forces the Black prisoner
back into a life of crime once he/she has been released.
Three hours after this interview started, it ended. By that time, my
senses had returned to my brain; and as photographer Richard Brown and I
walked away from the prison, I took on lasting glance - a painful glance -
a glance that reminded me of a song I had sung during the theatrical produc
tion of "Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom ": "If I had my way, I would tear this ol
building down . . . "
Dr. Marable Speaks in Portland
And as we think of South Africa, we think of Bishop TuTu, Winnie Man
dela, Nelson Mandela and millions of other oppressed South Africans who
are crying out for political rights and economic transformation. Do we hear
their cries? Do we stand with them or against them in this struggle? And do
we also recognize that the contradictions they face for political change and
economic transformation are similar to the kinds of problems confronting
African-American people here in the United States?
Edited by Nyewusi Askari
Last week. Dr. Manning Marable journeyed to Portland. Oregon,
and shared his provocative insights with an enthusiastic congrega
tion. The Observer is proud to present excerpts from that presen-
One of the most important processes in social change comes from a
positive self-awareness: an awareness of self, and here I mean collective self;
of our communities; of ourselves within our communities; a sense of our
heritage; and a positive sense of our tradition of struggle. Collective self-
awareness is essential in understanding the processes of history. Who we
are is defined by how we came to be under such economic and political con
straints. Any person who is contemptuous of his or her own history cannot
create a new history. If we want to devise a method to critique economic
and political realities, we must approach that process through the prisms of
our own history, through the prism of our own struggle.
Dr Marable is Chairperson of the Black Studies Department,
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. His syndicated column,
w^Along the Color Line", appears in over 140 newspapers inter
nationally and is a Regular feature in the Portland Observer.— ------------
"I'm going to talk today about the contradiction between political liber
ation and economic freedom. Both are related in a fundamental way to
this whole process of trying to critique the status of the Black freedom strug
gle in this country: where we find ourselves in the 1980’s; how we see our
selves against the panorama of political struggle and economic struggle, not
only in this country, but throughout the African diaspora - throughout the
Why is this so important?
Th rdThe Black student today, the Hispanic student, the progressive white
student, is at the center of both policial and economic revolution. These
are revolutions for social justice and for peace. These are revolutions that
have as a part of the visions the pursuit of human quality and social justice.
Whether we know it or not, we re all part of these unfinished revolutions.
And we can see them abroad in Central America. We see them in the Phil
ippines. We see them in South Korea. And perhaps more fundamentally,
we see political and economic struggles for social change and social justice
unfolding over the last few years in South Africa.
Let me give you two examples. Story number one: A year ago, I gave a
lecture on Martin Luther King's birthday at Brown University. And very
much like the Martin Luther King celebrations that are held throughout the
country, when I was asked to speak at Brown that evening, I was also asked
to speak at a high school earlier that afternoon. It was a very large audi
torium. A large portrait of Martin Luther King was hanging on the wall.
Dr. Manning Marable
Continued on Page 9
Photo by Richard J. Brown
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