| Corrections News On-Line August 2002 |
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| Directors Message |
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DOC receives grant award: In last month’s message, we talked about building stronger partnerships with other agencies and seeking federal funding for our programs. That process continues to pay off: We were recently awarded a three-year $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice for “Going Home: Serious and Violent Offender Reentry.” This program will support expanded pre-release and release activities in Multnomah and Marion counties for inmates identified as belonging to security threat groups (STGs).
The successful proposal was developed by a committee of public safety agencies, parole and post-prison supervision, juvenile and adult corrections, housing, and others. The two counties believe that by working together, we can help these high-risk former gang members become productive, law-abiding members of their communities. Congratulations to all involved in the proposal. We’ll tell you more about it as the programs begin.
Budget effects of the Special Session: In an earlier message, we told you that although July’s third Special Legislative Session left the department relatively intact, there will be some cuts. To recap, specific reductions for the DOC include:
$1.8 million reduction in non-mandated correctional programs (such as work-based education and cognitive programming).
Funding for salary adjustments that have already been made and those scheduled during the rest of the biennium are under-funded by 25 percent. That means we have a salary-funding shortfall of $4.3 million. However, all units have saved money by limiting spending to only essential activities; we don’t believe any layoffs will be necessary as a result of the salary under-funding.
The Legislature eliminated cost-of-living salary adjustments for all management and unrepresented employees in state government for the rest of the biennium. Increases negotiated by representative bargaining units are unchanged.
The hiring freeze and out-of-state travel restrictions announced earlier are expected to remain in place through the rest of the biennium, although with some changes (See “Hiring Freeze Thaws for Security Positions,” below).
Thank you all for your efforts to keep the department running smoothly within the constraints of the budget shortfalls and the hiring freeze. Your work is appreciated.
Your opinion counts: An employee survey is in your August 1 paycheck envelope. Please complete and return your survey as soon as possible. It is anonymous and confidential, and will help us to better understand your job satisfaction along with the level of interaction you have with inmates.
Warm regards,
Ben de Haan Nick Armenakis
Interim Director Deputy Director
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| Oregon Accountability Model |
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Intake and Assessment
How can you hold someone accountable for accomplishments and change if you don’t know the starting point from which he or she begins? To find those starting points for the nearly 400 inmates entering the DOC each month, the Oregon Accountability Model includes a new enhanced intake and assessment process. When implemented, it will address each inmate’s specific criminal risk factors.
Oregon Corrections Intake Center Administrator Carolyn Schnoor says: “The department will look at seven criminal risk factors that can indicate the potential for future criminal behavior based on research about what works to hold offenders accountable and to reduce recidivism.” Those criminal risk factors are:
1) Associates of the inmate;
2) Substance abuse;
3) Community functioning;
4) Education and employment;
5) Emotional and mental health;
6) Marital and family life; and
7) Inmate attitudes.
After assessment, each inmate will receive a “case plan” to mitigate his or her individual risk factors, which includes assignment to the appropriate prison programs and services. “When we tie inmate programming needs to his or her criminal risk factors, we can have a greater impact in changing that inmate’s behavior,” says Interim Director Ben de Haan.
“This enhanced assessment is vital to the success of the Oregon Accountability Model … We are just beginning, and there are many ‘bugs’ to work out,” concludes de Haan. “Everyone involved will help develop and fine-tune the processes at intake, including assessment, supervision, transport and classification.”
For more FACE information about intake and assessment, contact OCIC Administrator Carolyn Schnoor at (503) 570-6460.
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| Kidney Dialysis at TRCI |
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Role Modeling - Be Worthy of Respect And Imitation
When kidneys fail, a person must undergo expensive dialysis to remove wastes and toxins from the blood. The Oregon Department of Corrections has a number of male inmates who require this treatment. Instead of transporting them to community medical centers, DOC Health Services began on-site dialysis at Two Rivers Correctional Institution last March. The $23,000 start-up costs translated to significant savings: nearly $3,500 less per patient each month in dialysis costs and roughly another $5,000 a month in transport savings for each of the nine inmates.
Other benefits of the on-site treatment include increased continuity of care because a nephrologist (kidney specialist) consults with TRCI medical staff each month, and increased safety and security for the public by eliminating the need for dozens of trips outside the prisons each week for medical treatment.
Each of the inmates receives three dialysis sessions a week. “The dialysis is carried out by contracted medical personnel who work around inmates’ incarceration plan programming and work assignments whenever possible,” concludes TRCI Health Services Manager Heather Villanueva. “This minimizes disruption to the institutions.”
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| Hiring Freeze Thaws |
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Security Positions
In mid-July, the Department of Administrative Services granted a “classification exception” to the hiring freeze for correctional officers, corporals, sergeants, lieutenants and captains. DAS indicated the emergency response nature of these positions - as well as the imminent effect they have on the health, welfare, and safety of the public - was the reason for approving the exception to the hiring freeze begun in June.
In a separate decision, DAS transferred the process for granting exceptions to agency directors. The criteria for exceptions are:
The position affects people's health, welfare, and safety.
The position provides direct medical or physical care, supervision, or security of clients, patients, or inmates.
The position has a direct impact on the ability of a state agency to assure accountability and economy in the expenditure of funds or the execution of programs.
The position is filled through the transfer or rotation of existing staff within the same agency (or between agencies for high-priority functions) and results in no increase in overall FTE and has no impact, or negligible impact, on the General Fund.
Leaving a position vacant would result in a significant negative impact on funding, such as collection of revenue, or would result in a net loss of federal funds to an agency program.
Leaving a position vacant would adversely and directly impact an agency's required compliance with statute, court orders, or federal mandates.
The department has designed an internal request and tracking system for all positions. DOC assistant directors must approve positions and ensure they meet the DAS exception criteria before they can be filled.
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| Breaking Murphy's Law |
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The Security Audit Process
“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong” is the adage known as Murphy’s Law. However, that isn’t an acceptable situation for the 3,500 people working in Oregon’s prisons. Protecting the public, staff and inmates is paramount to the department’s mission. Keeping things from going wrong may mean the difference between life and death.
Murphy’s Law is why teams of DOC staff regularly audit the security of our institutions. Their role is to look at prison policies, procedures and practices and ask: “What could go wrong?” They try to find anything that might be a weakness in the system, including vulnerabilities to escape, disruption, or destruction of property. The team then makes recommendations about how to reduce risks.
“The value in conducting audits is the opportunity to see things with ‘fresh eyes,’” says DOC Security Chief Sonia Hoyt. “When our staff travel to other institutions and spend the better part of a week looking at their peers’ operations, everyone wins.” She says the audited institution gets feedback for improvement without having a major incident prompt the review. The staff conducting the audit get an in-depth look at another DOC operation, and come away with ideas to improve their own operations.
To make DOC’s audits more effective, Hoyt and Transport Lt. Jim Ramsey are working on a new narrative format to replace the former checklist style of audit forms. “The checklists served their purpose for a long time,” says Hoyt. “However, we are at a point where we need to go more in-depth with our audits and make more-specific recommendations on improvements.”
Hoyt adds that the checklist system doesn’t allow for valuable comments or for ranking the severity of risks. “The compliant/not compliant choice really didn’t look at the whole picture,” continues Hoyt. “We are putting all the audit chapters into a narrative format to ensure the institutions have the level of detail they need to quickly complete recommended improvements … we don’t want the institutions to have to second-guess what the audit teams find, and the new process will encourage follow-up.” She says the narrative format encourages auditors to write comments on areas that exceed the standards, not just areas that are seen as deficient. This is especially important when a facility is doing something well that might have application in other facilities.
The new security audit system will add chapters on Security Threat Groups, Emergency Preparedness, and Staffing & Roster Guidelines. It also will fully incorporate Food Service and Physical Plant operations, eliminating the disruption of separate audits in these areas.
Hoyt expects the rewrite to be completed and out for institution review and comment in August. Training is planned for September, in preparation for the new system’s first use at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility toward the end of the year.
“We expect to learn a lot when we roll out the new audit procedure at Coffee Creek,” continues Hoyt. “Once we work through the entire procedure, we hope to have it available for the rest of the department early in 2003. It will be a tremendous tool for ensuring follow-through and that improvements are made.”
“I am grateful that Jim Ramsey has been assigned full time to complete this major revision of our audit process,” concludes Hoyt. “He worked with staff throughout the department to look for opportunities to fine-tune the audit standards and combine stand-alone audits into one comprehensive audit instrument … Jim’s knowledge of the department and his efforts will serve us well as we continue to improve our own best practices.”
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| Two Rivers |
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New Close Supervision Unit
More than 80 percent of the inmates sent to an intensive management unit (IMU) don’t return to IMU after moving back to general population. That’s the good news. The bad news is 18 percent of the inmates first sent to IMU will come back at least once. Half of the returnees will return to IMU a third time, and 90 percent of those will come back yet again.
“Our research shows there are inmates who have great difficulty going from spending 23 hours a day in their cells one day to being in a yard with a thousand other inmates the next,” reports Classification and Transfer Unit Manager Brian Bemus. “We developed a Close Supervision Unit (CSU) to address the problem. We hope it will result in fewer inmates cycling through IMU, which should save the department money as well as improving the safety and security of our prisons.”
The first six inmates entered the new CSU at Two Rivers Correctional Institution on July 10.
The 78-bed unit is designed to improve behavior for that 18 percent who have trouble readjusting to general population. Inmates will be assigned based on their need for an intermediate step between IMU and general housing. CSU’s focus is on a graduated transition from highly restrictive custody to accepting the responsibility for making good choices in general population.
The CSU is in a general population housing unit, but with a more-restricted routine. CSU inmates have full canteen and visiting privileges, but have less free time and a more-structured schedule. CSU offers a combination of in-cell and small group programs that are closely linked to the programs offered IMU, providing inmates with continuity and accountability for actions.
Although assignments to CSU are expected to last up to six months, inmates who show readiness to go back to general population might move earlier. Those with problems adjusting to CSU may be returned to IMU. “The unit will certainly evolve as we continue to operate and gain experience,” concludes Bemus. “The CSU is a welcome and needed addition to our list of resources for managing difficult inmates.”
The populations in the Close Supervision Unit at TRCI and the Intensive Management units at Snake River and Oregon State Penitentiary will be managed together. CTU Counselor John Lorance has central oversight of the IMU/CSU population, and the CSU unit itself is managed by TRCI Assistant Superintendent Martin Herron.
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| Writer's Corner |
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The Dog Ate the Bone?
Ever had the grammar checker in your computer flag a sentence as being in a “passive” voice? There’s a reason. The choice of an active or passive voice changes the emphasis of your writing. Look at the following examples:
The bone was eaten by the dog.
The dog ate the bone.
What’s the difference? The bone was eaten by the dog is passive, because the main focus of the sentence is the bone, but the bone doesn’t do anything. Instead, something is done to the bone (by the dog). The dog ate the bone is active, because the main focus of attention is the dog, and the dog is the one who does something (it eats the bone).
An active voice usually results in stronger, clearer writing and usually requires fewer words.
Here are some examples pulled from DOC unusual incident reports and how they might be written in a more-active voice:
Before: The inmate was then placed in a plexiglass cell, due to the inmate attempting to spit on staff.
After: Because the inmate was trying to spit on staff, we placed him in a plexiglass cell.
Before: When the team arrived at the cell, the inmate was given two more direct orders to submit to restraints, to which he refused.
After: The inmate refused two direct orders from the team to submit to restraints. [We already know the inmate is in his cell, and the team must be there to give direct orders.]
Before: Corporal Jones did the search on the inmate’s cell, unauthorized material was found in Inmate Smith’s cell.
After: Corporal Jones searched the cell and found unauthorized materials. [We know from earlier in the report whose cell it is.]
Tip to remember: Write the way you speak, with an active voice.
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| More News... |
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With as many as 25 major fires at a time raging across Oregon, DOC’s inmate firefighters and their supervisors have been hard at work this summer protecting our forests and surrounding communities. More than 200 minimum-custody inmates trained and outfitted by the Oregon Department of Forestry have been sent out with their supervisors from Columbia River, Powder River, Shutter Creek, Snake River and South Fork. In addition, DOC Food Services expects to prepare and serve up to 30,000 sack meals to inmate and other firefighters this fire season.
The DOC Classification and Transport Unit's Wilsonville office is up and running. The office is housed in the modular unit formerly used as the Coffee Creek construction office. CTU Manager Brian Bemus says the new office will facilitate the large number of intake inmates transferring in and out of Coffee Creek and off-site medical transports for female inmates. “We are realigning staff to where the work is,” says Bemus. “This will also enable us to provide more support for hospital watches in the Portland area and for moving inmates between Columbia River and South Fork Forest Camp.” The Wilsonville CTU office can be reached by phone at (503) 570-6840 and by fax at (503) 570-6844.
More than 120 people attended July 19 groundbreaking ceremonies for the new men’s minimum-security facility in Lakeview. They heard the announcement by DOC Deputy Director Nick Armenakis that the prison would be named “Warner Creek Correctional Facility.” The 400-bed prison is expected to be completed by April 2004.
DOC Health Services will begin manufacturing eyeglasses for inmates. The program will start-up at CRCI, and is expected to reduce wait time for new glasses from weeks to days, and also reduce costs. Health Services Administrator Joe Richter will work with institutions to select appropriate eyewear.
On July 2, the move went smoothly for Death Row inmates transferred to new housing in the Intensive Management Unit (IMU) at Oregon State Penitentiary. The new quarters will allow all condemned men to be housed in the same area, facilitate equal treatment, and improve access to programs and services.
The OSP Fitness Center invites you to the 2002 Annual DOC Golf Tournament on Saturday, September 21 at Santiam Golf Course in Stayton. The four-person scramble-format tournament open to all DOC and OCE employees and retirees and their guests. A maximum of three guests will be allowed per employee or retiree. Proceeds from the tournament raffle will be donated to the Tyler Fritz Euromed Clinic Fund for medical treatment (Tyler is the son of Coffee Creek Counselor Scott Fritz). For more information, contact Jerry Long at (503) 373-7604 x239 or Ron West at (503) 373-7604 x254.
You are invited to the first annual Santiam Correctional Institution/Mill Creek Correctional Facility 5K run/walk at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 24 at Minto Brown Park in Salem. The $10 entry fee includes T-shirt or tank top with logo, race number, race information, and medal. For more information, contact Susi Hodgin at (503) 378-5558 X256 or by e-mail: susi.a.hodgin@doc.state.or.us.
Mark your calendars for the Oregon Criminal Justice Association’s annual Fall Pistol Match on Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Dave Burkes Range in Eugene. You can get registration forms and learn more about the match at: <http://www.open.org/~ocja>. They also need about a dozen certified firearms instructors to assist as range officers, If you are interested, please contact Todd Cooper at (541) 895-5850 or todd.cooper@co.lane.or.us <mailto:todd.cooper@co.lane.or.us>.
DOC Corrections News
Oregon Department of Corrections
Benjamin de Haan, Ph. D., Interim Director
The mission of the Oregon Department of Corrections is to
promote public safety by holding offenders accountable for their
actions and reducing the risk of future criminal behavior.
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