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SEPTEMBER 15, 2022
9
‘Drugs is always what has brought me back to prison’
PRISON continued
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tion or even the second. This would
be the third sentence she would
serve at Coffee Creek Correctional
Facility in Wilsonville on drug-re-
lated charges. Coffee Creek houses
all of the state’s female inmates.
“Drugs is always what has brought
me back to prison,” she says.
Speaking from a drab prison con-
ference room in early September,
Linton, 43, is subdued and reflec-
tive. Tears slide down her face as
she recalls certain events.
Linton pinpoints her trouble with
the law and drug addiction starting
after her husband, Ryan, was mur-
dered at Niagara County Park near
Santiam Pass in 2001.
“After he was murdered, I didn’t
know how to deal with my grief
so I used drugs and life never got
better,” she says. “I took my kids
to my mom’s in Grand Ronde and
basically just stepped away and
that’s what led to this.”
The next 20 years included a
string of drug arrests and stints in
county jail, then prison. Despite her
intermittent incarceration, Linton
did her best to remain a part of her
children’s lives, who range in age
from 25 to 14. She says they remain
her motivation to do better.
“I’m pretty proud of them because
they are all successful and I want
them to be proud of me as well,”
Linton says.
Currently, she’s enrolled in cosme-
tology school that the prison offers to
inmates who meet the criteria for the
program. When Linton is released,
she hopes to open her own salon.
“I’m doing what I can so that I
have something when I get out,” she
says. “I have really made changes
to my life.”
She video chats with her four
Parenting
from
PRISON
younger children, ages 14 to 17,
every weekend. So far, they’ve
been unable to visit in person due
to COVID-19 restrictions and time
constraints because they live in
Prineville, which is an approximate
three-hour drive away.
“I’d like to see them, but my
daughter is the only one who drives
and she has been pretty busy with
school,” Linton says.
The 17-year-old will graduate
high school in June 2023 and will
also earn an associate degree as
a certified nursing assistant that
year. CNA training programs in Or-
egon must include at least 80 hours
of classroom learning and 75 hours
in a clinical setting, according to
registerednursing.org.
While serving her sentence this
time, Linton says she has been able
to maintain a relatively close bond
with her children.
“We were close before but we are
way closer now,” she says. “Before,
drug use really impacted my rela-
tionships because when I wasn’t
on the right path, my kids could
tell. They weren’t stupid. Now, it’s
amazing and I don’t know what I
would do without them.”
Linton took parenting classes of-
fered through the prison the second
time she was incarcerated, but now
puts all of her energy toward her
schooling.
“My focus is my college class and
doing well with that,” she says. “I’ll
leave here with my license for hair,
nail and eyelashes. This is the first
time I have focused on me and not
someone else.”
A typical day begins at 6:30 a.m.
when she and other cosmetology
students complete classwork and see
clients at the prison’s cosmetology
studio. After a lunch break, they
repeat the routine until 3:30 p.m.
Weekends are spent doing homework
packets that the students receive
every Thursday. In order to earn
her cosmetology license, Linton must
complete 1,800 hours of schooling.
“I have really learned a lot about
myself this time,” she says. “I’m not
always worrying about someone
else. Now, I am working on myself.”
Linton says her methamphet-
amine addiction and returning to
the same familiar lifestyle after she
was released from prison or jail was
the main reason she was unable to
break the cycle of incarceration.
When living “on the outside,”
Linton was able to have a relatively
normal life at times, and worked
as a housekeeper and veterinary
technician.
“I pretty much did meth continu-
ally for 20 years, but now I’ve been
sober for 13 months,” she says. “If I
would have gotten help for my grief
over my husband’s death instead of
turning to drugs, I would have been
able to deal with it a lot better. That
dragged me through the dirt for a
long time.”
When asked what advice she
would give to other Tribal member
mothers who are struggling, Linton
pauses, wipes her eyes, and says,
“Don’t be afraid to ask for help and
to get the help you need, especially
when it comes to grief. It will mess
you up for a long time if you don’t.”
During her incarceration, Lin-
ton’s counselor gave her an as-
signment: Every time she asked
someone for help, she had to write
down what the experience was like
and how it made her feel.
“I’ve always kind of been on my
own and drifted away from every-
one for a long time,” she says. “I was
really good at not asking for help.”
Linton says she is most excited
about being back together with
family after her release from prison
in 2025.
“I can’t wait to see my kids and
my two grandkids,” she says. “I also
want to take classes at the Tribe
and open up my own salon. It was a
bit of a struggle going back to school
and I would have never done it if I
was out. This gives me a really good
start.”
Tribal nonemergency text line
The Grand Ronde Tribal Police Department has a nonemergency
text line at 541-921-2927.
“If you have a nonemergency situation or question, feel free to contact
my officer via text through this line,” said Grand Ronde Tribal Police
Chief Jake McKnight. “When one of my officers receives the text, they
will call you back when they have time.”
McKnight said that emergency situations still require calling 911.
For more information, contact McKnight at 503-879-1474.
Good Medicine
Back to School Jam
LOCATION: Basketball Court in Tribal Housing
DATE: Friday, September 16, 2022
TIME: 5-8pm
Come join us as we prepare for a new school year!
We will have singing, dancing, Indian Tacos, and goodies.
Bring your own lawn chairs and blankets.