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Prison
Urban Entrepreneurs
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from the Legislature.
The Corrections Department closed an
expensive prison for elderly inmates in
Yakima last year, consolidating most of
those inmates at the Coyote Ridge prison
near Pasco. It is now preparing to
close the McNeil Island Corrections
Center in Puget Sound in April.
The majority of the inmates in
Washington prisons are being held for
violent crimes like murder, rape and
assault, according to figures provided
by the state Department of
Corrections. There were 11,835
inmates (69 percent) serving time for
violent crimes in 2010, and 5,240 (30
percent) serving time for drugs, prop-
erty crimes or the category of “other.”
In 2000, 62 percent of Washington
prison inmates were doing time for violent
crimes and 37 percent for in prison for
drugs, property crimes or “other.”
Nationally, the Bureau of Justice Statistics
reported that 52.4 percent of state prison
inmates were doing time for violent crimes
in 2008, the latest year available.
In Washington, the big change in the
prison population has been the reduction of
people serving time for drugs. That fell
from 3,208 in 2000, 21 percent of inmates,
to 1,714 by 2010, 10 percent of inmates.
The reduction is a result of various state
laws that reduced sentences for many drug
crimes while increasing them for violent
The idea of releasing
some inmates early to
help reduce the projected
$4.6 billion deficit in the
next two year state budget
is being discussed in
Olympia
crimes.
It’s not clear if more violent inmates mean
that conditions inside the 13 prisons are
more dangerous. Female guard Jayme
Biendl was strangled to death inside the
chapel of the Monroe Correctional
Complex on Jan. 29. Court records show
inmate Byron Scherf — who is 52 and serv-
ing a life sentence for rape — confessed to
detectives in a videotaped interview.
Biendl is the first corrections
officer to be killed on the job in
decades.
Officials at Teamsters Local
117, which represents correc-
tions officers, believes the
prison population is more dan-
gerous than it used to be. The
closure of McNeil Island will
only make that worse, said
Tracey Thompson, chief execu-
tive officer of the union.
“Overcrowding with a lot
more violent criminals in the
system is going to be a recipe
the multicultural Business Summit, Awards luncheon on Jan 28 featured,
from left, Vancouver City Councilor Jack Burkman, Clark
County Commissioner Steve Stuart, Clark County diversity Coordinator
Rekah Strong, Urban Entrepreneurs founder deena Pierott, Urban Summit
Award winner Olga lafayette, keynote speaker monique hayward from
Intel, and luncheon speaker luis Navarro with the City of Seattle.
for disaster,” Thompson said.
The union also contends that too many
prisoners are being reclassified by prison
administrators from violent to nonviolent,
which allows them to be placed in the gen-
eral population. Scherf, for instance,
entered the prison system as a maximum
security inmate but had been moved to
medium security because of good behavior.
The union would like to see an overhaul
of the classification system, she said.
The state is also expected to have 2,000
more inmates by 2016 and needs a new
prison, Thompson said.
The crime rate in the Evergreen State is
the lowest in two decades. And the state
ranks well below the national average in
violent crime, mostly because violent
offenders are locked away, McBride said.
The downside is that Washington suffers
above-normal amounts of property crime,
because many of those offenders do not
receive prison time, McBride said.
Washington has a prison population of
just under 3 inmates per 1,000 residents,
well below the national average of more
than 5 inmates per 1,000.
In 2010, the vast majority of the state’s
inmates, 10,925, were White.
tor
of
Sabin
Community
Development Corporation and a long-
time advocate for universal access.
“To get high-speed Internet today, costs
$50 or $60 a month or even higher. So if
you’re a single mother with three kids,
you’re going to think about transportation,
housing and childcare, and you’re probably
not able to afford to get online.”
This ‘digital
divide’ handicaps
low-income
students who
can’t go online
to do their
homework. It
handicaps adult
jobseekers: two
in five can’t
search for work
online
from
home.
“If we are
going to say we
are the city of the future, and if we are going
to say we are green and sustainable and bike
friendly, then all of our citizens have to have
that full communication,” says Fondren. “If
not, then we are not living up to that mes-
sage.
We have to push this as a city, as a state.
It’s not just important; it’s necessary if we
are to be a city of the future.”
Many African Americans do have access
to high-speed Internet, either on their cell
phones or on home computers. Black
themes often dominate on Twitter, and
music videos feature thousands of Black
musicians. But because people of color are
more likely to be poor, too many still lack
high-speed Internet.
According to the study, Spanish-speaking
families and others who don’t speak English
at home are among the most disadvantaged.
That’s partly because these groups are most
likely to feel that being online has little to
offer them.
“We need to make it affordable for every-
one,” says Mary Beth Henry. “And we have
to show people how it can be useful to
them.”
first all Black band to march in the parade
and the hit of the parade.
Evelyn is survived by cousins Edna
Robertson, Synetta Morris, Terry Lynn and
Felicia Robertson, Shelly May Penix, and
Benny Blanton; nieces Sheri and Traci
McAlister-Crews and Angela Golden; and
nephews Uhuru, Zawdie and Karanja
Crews; and a host of their children.
Evelyn was assisted in her final three
months by cousin Synetta Morris and child-
hood friends Avel Gordly and Charlotte
Rutherford who thank everyone who cared
for, assisted and prayed for Evelyn’s peace
and comfort.
A private interment will be held at Rose
City Cemetery. A Celebration of Life will
be held on Saturday Feb. 26, 2011 at Billy
Webb Elk’s Lodge, 6 N. Tillamook Street,
Portland, from 4 to 7 p.m. Everyone who
wants to celebrate Evelyn’s life is invited to
attend.
It’s not clear if more violent
inmates mean that conditions
inside the 13 prisons are more
dangerous. Female guard
Jayme Biendl was strangled
to death inside the chapel of
the Monroe Correctional
Complex on Jan. 29
Read the rest of this story online at
www.theskanner.com
Internet
continued from page 1
to find solutions. “We need to make sure our
infrastructure keeps up or Portland will
become a ‘has been’,” she said. “There may
not be one grand solution, but there may be
a bunch of smaller solutions that each deal
with a piece of this issue.”
the Challenge of Inequality
One of the dangers we face is the crip-
pling inequality that will result from leaving
large groups of people behind. A study by
the Mt Hood Regulatory Commission,
‘Your Vo!ce’ found that 28 percent of
Portlanders don’t have high-speed Internet
access at home – largely because they can’t
afford it. Of those Portlanders who earn less
than $30,000 a year, 47 percent lack high
speed Internet access, compared to just 5
percent of those who earn more than
$60,000 a year.
“I thought by 2011 we’d have accessible
Internet for $5 to $10 a month, Craig
Fondren, director of Sabin Community
Development Corporation
but that hasn’t happened in
America,” says Craig Fondren, direc-
Frankly access to
the Internet is not a
luxury any more, It’s
a necessity
State Rep Lew Frederick
Crews
continued from page 1
buses; served as the first legislative assistant
to then Rep. Avel Gordly; and in her later
years, Evelyn worked as a school secretary
at several Portland Public Schools.
Many will remember Evelyn for her
involvement with Thara Memory and others
in the Jazmin Community Marching Band.
She and Thara got the Portland Public
School Board to provide unused musical
instruments for students in their all-volun-
teer program. The Jazmin Marching Band
introduced many students to music and after
being unfairly denied entry, “crashed” the
Portland Rose Festival Parade becoming the
Many will remember Evelyn for her involvement
with Thara Memory and others in the Jazmin
Community Marching Band
February 23, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 3