Contact: Jim Lockwood Public Affairs Director (503) 945-9092
 
Corrections Department: Recyclers Take Note

 
The Oregon Department of Corrections stepped forward today in support of what it refers to as a pioneering inmate work program with the Metropolitan Disposal Corporation in Portland. News reports of personal or sensitive documents falling into the hands of inmates working at the Northeast Portland recycling facility have raised some issues that are a sign of the times, according to Jim Lockwood, Public Affairs Director for the Oregon Department of Corrections in Salem.

In the words of Lockwood, "Most of us have not stopped to ask questions about just exactly who is handling the personal material Oregonians are so dutifully recycling on the curbside or at the office each week. Such labor intensive sorting may not often be done by inmates, but it would not be surprising to find former inmates, or others who might at one time or another have failed the test of honesty, among those doing the front line labor at such facilities. The more we recycle, the more opportunity there is out there for someone to be looking at it.. That applies in Portland just the same as it does in Chicago or Houston."

"At first glance," Lockwood said, " the public may be surprised to hear that inmates sorting items at a recycling plant may have had personal or sensitive items pass through their hands. The situation Metropolitan Disposal and the Department of Corrections investigated is worthy of everyone´s attention for several reasons."

Recycling is labor intensive by its very nature. For both financial and technological reasons, machines cannot screen the materials from beginning to end. Especially when paper is involved, human judgement is an important aspect of the process.

2. Since, in many instances, someone will be culling through your recycling, it would be wise for all of us to start asking ourselves what we should be doing to control access to sensitive information from the time it leaves our wastebaskets. Several people are handling the material; why tempt them?

3. At first glance people are concerned about the use of inmates in the process. But, inmates are actually among the most intensely supervised of any workers in the recycling business! Don´t lose sight of the fact that it was inmates who pointed out the material in the first place! In addition, the type of material that can legally be possessed by inmates is much narrower, subjecting them to immediate harsh penalties for infractions.

The partnership between the Department of Corrections and Metropolitan Disposal began in January 1997 in response to a voter approved mandate that state prison inmates work full time. The mandate, commonly referred to as Measure 17 (November 1994), has placed Oregon on the map in national corrections circles for its attempts to develop innovative approaches to inmate work. Creating partnerships with private sector industries is a critical component of Oregon´s efforts.

"Metropolitan Disposal Corporation endured hours and weeks of efforts by the Department to ensure that necessary security safeguards were in place," Lockwood said. "Inmate shenanigans are nothing new, and the more work programs we have, the more opportunities they discover. It may only be a minority of inmates that get involved in illicit activities, but we have to guard against it everywhere."

To meet the challenge, a correctional officer is assigned full time to provide supervision of the crew at the recycling center. Additional department staff are assigned to provide surveillance on a random basis, to add the element of surprise. "Metropolitan Disposal has shown a great appreciation for the security needs of the department," says Mike McGee, Superintendent of Columbia River Correctional Institution, the facility that regularly supplies crews to the center.

McGee says he and his staff stepped in quickly to join Metropolitan Disposal´s management in providing training and developing new procedures for handling sensitive materials. A correctional officer how notifies MDC staff of all such material found. MDC, in turn, follows up with their customers to advise them of the proper handling of sensitive material.

"This is what its all about," says Lockwood. "When you are out there pressing to put inmates to work, you get out of your routine. Its not only the officers in the maximum security prison towers that are constantly on the alert; we count on our minimum security work crew supervisors to protect the public´s safety in much the same way."