Prison Program

Basic Facts About Prison and Oregon - 2009

February 19, 2009
Basic Facts About Prison and Oregon - 2009
Number of Prisons 14 Prisons – The

Colette Peters Chosen to Lead State Prisons

February 1, 2012
Colette Peters, director of the Oregon Youth Authority, has been chosen by Gov. John Kitzhaber to run the Oregon Department of Corrections. As corrections chief, Peters will run a fast-growing system that now houses 14,000 inmates in 13 prisons (Statesman Journal).

By  ALAN GUSTAFSON

The fastest growing group of inmates in Oregon: Women.

January 20, 2012
In the past 10 years, the number of female inmates in Oregon's prison system increased by 28 percent. This trend will only accelerate -- Measure 57, which went into effect Jan. 1, lengthens sentences for repeat property and drug offenders. The more likely transgressors: women (Willamette Week).

Jail Birds

The fastest-growing group

Legal Scholar: Jim Crow Still Exists In America

January 17, 2012
On NPR's "Fresh Air," Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," details how President Reagan's war on drugs led to a mass incarceration of black males and the difficulties these felons face after serving their prison sentences.

 

Too Good to be True: Private Prisons in America

January 17, 2012
A new report from The Sentencing Project details the history of private prisons in America, documents the increase in their use, and examines their purported benefits.

 

Oregon prison food service official resigns; criminal charges considered

January 17, 2012
Prosecutors are considering criminal charges over misuse of public funds at Two Rivers Correctional Institution by a prison executive who has resigned. This is the second time in recent years the prison system has confronted corruption in its food services operation (The Oregonian).

 

U.S. Correctional Population Declined for Second Consecutive Year

January 3, 2012
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has good news moving into the new year - they recently reported that the number of offenders under adult correctional supervision in the U.S. declined 1.3 percent in 2010.

State Sued Over Prisoner's Death

January 3, 2012
Richard Gifford, a developmentally disabled prisoner, died in a segregation cell at the Oregon State Penitentiary after injecting an "undetermined drug or toxin." His mother is suing the state, claiming his death was the result of "deliberate indifference" by prison employees (Statesman Journal).

Interim Prisons Chief Named

January 3, 2012
Mitch Morrow, who has been with the Department of Corrections since 1983, took over as the interim director of Oregon's prison system on Jan. 1st (Statesman Journal).

 

Oregon Commission on Public Safety Issues Report

January 3, 2012
The Oregon Commission on Public Safety sent a report of its findings to the governor last week, saying that ballot measures instead of business principles have dominated prison sentencing in Oregon and that needs to change.

After months of gathering testimony and information, the Public Safety Commission delivered its report on the examination of Oregon's public safety system to the governor last week.

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