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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 23, 2005
Contact: Perrin Damon, 503-945-0925
Julie Martin, 541-756-6666 ext. 243
Accident kills inmate on work crew
At approximately 10:30 a.m. Tuesday August 23, an inmate on a work crew dispatched from Shutter Creek Correctional Institution in North Bend was accidentally killed while clearing trees and brush from underneath power lines near Mapleton.
The Department of Corrections, the Oregon State Police and the Lane County Sheriff’s Office are looking into the cause of the accident. Preliminary information indicates that a tree the inmate was cutting fell in the wrong direction and caused his death.
The inmate, whose name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, was one of eight inmates supervised by a correctional officer at the work site. When the accident occurred, the correctional officer and trained inmates immediately commenced CPR and continued to perform it until relieved by emergency medical personnel. Another inmate was dispatched to call for assistance. The fallen inmate was pronounced dead by the emergency medical personnel at the remote scene.
“We are greatly saddened by this most unfortunate accident,” said Corrections Director Max Williams. “The inmates’ family and friends have our sincere and heartfelt sympathy.”
This is the first inmate fatality in the prison’s 15-year history. Approximately 100 minimum-custody inmates per day are dispatched from the 250-bed prison.
Statewide there have been no inmate deaths on work crews in recent history. An average of approximately 850 minimum-custody inmates are assigned daily to community work crews, which equates to approximately 149,000 work crew hours per month.
Today’s inmate population is 12,888 statewide with 245 at Shutter Creek.
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