| CRCI Prison Advisory Committee (PAC) |
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| PAC Meeting Minutes |
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Prison Advisory Committee Meeting
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COLUMBIA RIVER CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
Prison Advisory Committee
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
MINUTES
“The mission of the Columbia River Correctional Institution Prison Advisory Committee is to enhance the effectiveness of CRCI by communicating with and advising CRCI Administration on correctional issues affecting the community.”
Members Present Members Absent DOC Staff
Captain Rai Adgers Bruce Broussard Gary Kilmer
William Trumbull Dan Lucero Mike Malizio
Elaine Premo Shadman Afzal Richard Ackley
Cynthia VanLoo Shaheed Haamid Kari Lady
Peter Boghossian Stan Peterson Susan Erickson
Gretchen Hite Chip Shields
Sandy Neuberger Dana Anderson
Introduction of New Superintendent – Gary Kilmer
Mr. Kilmer stated that he has been with State government for 23 years, starting as a temp in the Newberg Employment Office in 1983. He worked in McMinnville, Portland, and Salem and became very familiar with employment insurance laws. He began working with ex-offender programs in Marion County and worked for five years with the federally-funded Incarcerated Veterans Program helping with post-release employment and activities to reduce recidivism of veterans. Mr. Kilmer then went to Japan to work for the Ministry of Labor. Upon his return, he came to the Department of Corrections to work in Recruitment on staffing new facilities. He has been the Labor Relations Administrator for the last two years. He welcomes this opportunity to be the Superintendent at Columbia River and to work in an institution.
Mr. Kilmer stated that he is pleased to have the Prison Advisory Committee back again; his door is always open, and his phone is always available.
Call to Order and Introductions – Vice-Chair, Cindy VanLoo
Ms. VanLoo introduced new member, Gretchen Hite, who is the Vice-chairperson of Oregon CURE. Ms. Hite stated that she is happy to be serving on the Prison Advisory Committee and that she is the parent of an inmate at OSP.
Mr. Boghossian, the Committee’s other new member, lives nearby in the Concordia neighborhood. He did his dissertation on inmate recidivism here at this facility four years ago. He is very interested in corrections and the OAM, focusing on how we can model behavior to assist inmates in transitioning back to the community.
PAC members and DOC staff introduced themselves to the new members.
Captain Adgers, who is the Commander at Inverness Jail, offered his facility for a future PAC meeting and would be willing to provide a tour afterward.
Review and Approval of Previous Meeting’s Minutes
The minutes from Tuesday, February 28 were approved as written.
Ms. VanLoo noted that CRCI hosted its second Children’s Event last month; it was well attended and very successful. Captain Adgers mentioned that the Center for Family Success is also creating a new Parenting curriculum to begin working with inmates at Inverness.
Orientation For New Members – William Trumbull
Mr. Trumbull referred to the previous minutes and cited the Prison Advisory Committee by-laws stating that an orientation should be completed for PAC members. Ms. Erickson said that she discussed the orientation with Sergeant Kephart, and he would be happy to give an orientation and tour of the institution at the next scheduled PAC meeting. The group agreed that the orientation and tour would be added to the next meeting’s agenda. Ms. Premo suggested that we have a yearly orientation meeting for new members.
Crime Victims’ Rights Project – Elaine Premo
Ms. Premo presented information on the Crime Victims’ Rights Project, who are lobbying for a Constitutional amendment for victims’ rights. They would like to see agencies mandated to develop victims’ rights programs and review compliance. It was noted that DOC has a Chaplain who is conducting mediations between inmates and their victims. Ms. Premo provided a packet of information. Susan will scan the materials and forward them to members via email.
Inactive PAC Members – Group
Mr. Trumbull read the by-laws regarding the terms of PAC membership and discussed the informational binders he created and provided to the members.
There was a discussion regarding members who have attended very few meetings and then have discontinued contact with the Committee. This presents a problem in attaining a quorum for productive PAC meetings.
Ms. Premo suggested that members who still want to participate in the PAC but cannot attend meetings regularly be placed on a list of non-voting, associate members in order to alleviate the quorum issue.
Mr. Kilmer stated that if PAC members miss two consecutive meetings without contacting the Committee, it should be clear that they no longer wish to participate.
Captain Adgers noted that the Chairperson, Mr. Broussard, needs to be notified of the changes discussed.
Mr. Trumbull read the by-laws regarding Advisory Committee elections for Officers. An election should occur at the beginning of each year, and this process was discussed. It was agreed that there will be an election of officers at the next PAC meeting in January of 2007. The Committee also discussed other options for scheduling the meetings. All present agreed that 1:00 p.m. is an acceptable meeting time.
The Committee also agreed that absent members will be given a notice and information that the next meeting will be elections and orientation to the PAC. If they do not attend the meeting and do not contact Ms. Erickson, they will be moved to inactive status and later dropped from the Advisory Committee.
Comments and/or Public Comments
Ms. Premo shared information on community education for correctional officers. Ms. VanLoo stated that inmates would benefit from more educational opportunities. Ms. Premo discussed integrated classroom settings with students and inmates inside the institution, a project they are working on at OSP. Mr. Boghossian said that he had previously checked with Portland State University, and inmates could receive a substantial discount in tuition costs for university credits. This has been done in California and Oklahoma. Mr. Ackley brought up the liability concerns of having the general public inside the institution to attend college courses.
Schedule for the Next Advisory Committee Meeting
The meeting will be held the latter half of January 2007 at 1:00 p.m. Ms. Erickson will contact members with possible dates after confirming Sergeant Kephart’s schedule. The meeting agenda will cover orientation and officer elections.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 noon.
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