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JUNE 1, 2022
Smoke Signals
‘Make small goals that lead to big goals’
PRISON continued
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abuse at the hands of Nichelle’s
ex-husband, stints of incarcera-
tion and estrangement from their
children.
In 2011, Nichelle, 50, was sen-
tenced to serve 19 months in Cof-
fee Creek Correctional Facility in
Wilsonville.
“They gave me the best punish-
ment they could have locking me
up with 500 women,” Nichelle says.
“I told them I was never going back
there and I haven’t. If things were
the way they are now, I don’t think
I would have become a drug addict.”
Courtney, 27, never went to pris-
on, but was in jail several times for
offenses such as drug possession
and failure to appear. As a child,
she swore that she would never do
hard drugs.
“I saw what they did to my mom
and I hated it,” Courtney says. “I
knew once I did it that I probably
wouldn’t be able to stop, but I
made a stupid decision and chose
to use meth with my ex. It became
a thing where we partied on the
weekends while the kids were gone.
He stopped. I didn’t.”
The Permans met with Smoke
Signals and in an often emotional
interview shared their experiences
in the hope of encouraging others
who are incarcerated or struggling
with drug use.
According to the Drug Policy In-
stitute, children with a parent in
prison are several times more likely
than others to end up in the foster
care system, drop out of school and
go to prison themselves.
Nichelle’s story
Nichelle’s Tribal heritage comes
from her father, Jeffrey Brooks,
but she grew up estranged from
him and was raised by her mother
and stepfather. The family moved
frequently due to his job as a cable
installer, so every year Nichelle
attended a new school from the age
of 10 to 14.
“I hated it,” she says. “When I was
14, I told my parents I was done. I
was tired of being somewhere dif-
ferent every year.”
They bought a house in Port-
land and Nichelle graduated from
Madison High School in 1990. She
married soon after and her oldest
daughter was born in 1991.
During the next several years,
Nichelle built a successful construc-
tion equipment rental business,
but lost it due to meth use and a
subsequent divorce.
“Three months after we opened
the business, I decided to get di-
vorced. I lost my business and went
through a really nasty and expen-
sive divorce,” she says.
After Perman’s divorce in 1999,
she moved into a Molalla duplex
with her two young daughters, got
a job at a grocery store and later
worked as a school bus driver and
in retail. During this time, she also
bought a home, but only lived there
for two years before selling it.
She and her children moved fre-
quently until 2007, when Nichelle
became homeless and couch surfed
with friends and family members,
Photo by Kamiah Koch
Tribal member Nichelle Perman wipes away tears in her Portland apartment on Thursday, May 19, while listening to
her daughter, Tribal member Courtney Perman, talk about losing custody of her 8-year-old daughter because of her
drug addiction.
Parenting
from
PRISON
even living in the same home as her
ex-husband for a while. During this
time, she continued using meth and
her life was marred by violence and
uncertainty. She also had periods of
sobriety after both outpatient and
inpatient drug treatment.
The first time Nichelle was ar-
rested and convicted of burglary
was in 2008 when she was driving
the vehicle used to store items that
her male companion had stolen
from garages. She served 30 days in
jail and was sentenced to 36 months
of probation.
After that incident, Nichelle be-
gan hanging out with a different
man and was arrested in Tillamook
County in 2010 for first-degree
burglary, theft and unauthorized
use of a motor vehicle. She was
convicted on the burglary charge
and sentenced to 19 months in
Coffee Creek Correctional Facility
in January 2011.
“It comes down to my hanging out
with the wrong people,” Nichelle
says. “I was also in my 14th year of
a drug addiction to meth.”
Women in state prisons are far
more likely than their male coun-
terparts to be incarcerated for a
drug or property crime offense:
Twenty-six percent have been con-
victed of a drug offense compared to
13 percent of men. Property crimes,
which are often interwoven with
drug addiction, are 24 percent for
women compared with 16 percent
for men, according to The Sentenc-
ing Project.
Since it was Nichelle’s second
property crime offense, she didn’t
get any time suspended from her
sentence for good behavior.
During her time in prison,
Nichelle worked to pay off court
fines and traffic tickets. She also
contacted the Tribe and found out
about the 477 program, which helps
Tribal members find and maintain
employment through assistance
with training, tools, transportation,
clothing, and job-related licensing
and fees.
She maintained a close relation-
ship with her youngest daughter,
who was 17 at the time, and was
able to provide money to support
her. Her eldest daughter, then 20,
didn’t visit and the two still have a
strained relationship.
“Going to prison put strain on
my family as it would any family,”
Nichelle says. “We were already
strained long before I went to
prison though. … My kids and I
are survivors and I'm sure things
would be different today. I don't
know how, but I know they would
be different if I didn't go to prison
and if we weren't homeless.”
After being released from Coffee
Creek, Nichelle had a job lined up
within one week of getting out as a
restaurant cook. During that time,
she lived in transitional housing
for women who had recently been
incarcerated.
“If you don't have a place set up or
arrangements made then you don't
get out until you do,” she says. “I
didn't have any family to move in
with or a place to go. … I slept in a
room with I believe it was four or
six girls.”
Nichelle continued to struggle
with homelessness and substance
use after being released, but has
been sober since 2020, has a full-
time job at an Amazon warehouse
and a Portland apartment of her
own.
Her advice to other Tribal moth-
ers who are in prison and strug-
gling with addiction is set small
goals that, over time, result in big
changes.
“My advice is to stay away from
the drugs and if you're a smoker
don't start smoking again,” Nichelle
says. “Stick with the transitional
housing. Work on yourself. Go to
NA/AA meetings. Get in an outpa-
tient drug program if drugs are an
issue. Never give up! Make small
goals that lead to big goals. It’s not
going to be easy but if you give up
your relationships won’t get better
and you’ll end up back at that hor-
rible place, which will only make
things worse.”
Courtney’s story
Courtney doesn’t recall much of
the early years when her parents
were together, but some incidents
stand out.
“There were good times, but I
mostly remember the bad things,”
she says. “I remember when my dad
built me a giant swing set, but I also
remember when my dad destroyed
my mom’s new car.”
The family moved frequently af-
ter Nichelle’s 1999 divorce, living
in Molalla, Lake Oswego, Oregon
City and Canby. They were often
homeless or stayed with friends.
Despite all of the struggles,
Nichelle kept her children in the
same school district all through
elementary and middle school,
even when it meant long daily com-
mutes. She recalls changing schools
frequently as a youth and hated
it, so she wanted her daughters to
have a more stable experience.
“My mom wasn’t home a whole
lot, so I just did whatever I wanted,”
Courtney says. “I started smoking
weed, partying and drinking when
I was 13. Then, I went to live with
See PRISON
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