| Mobile Inmate Camp Makes Repeat Appearance |
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For Immediate Release
May 5, 2000
Contact: Nancy DeSouza, ODOC: 503-945-9225
Terri Gates, USDA DNF: 541-383-5561
Mobile Inmate Camp Makes Repeat Appearance
For seven weeks beginning in mid-May, the Deschutes National Forest will once again be the home and work place of 90 minimum-custody Oregon inmates. A reprise of the successful Deschutes Conservation Camp focuses inmate work and training efforts on forest health activities.
The camp is a result of a unique partnership between the Oregon Department of Corrections and the USDA Deshcutes National Forest. The benefits are wide spread: the Forest Service accomplishes much-needed labor-intensive work and inmates are learning viable skills while engaged in productive work.
Only minimum-custody inmates are eligible to participate in the Deschutes Conservation Camp. Those selected for this assignment are within three years of completing their sentence and have had acceptable behavior while incarcerated. The work and training at the forest camp provide a bridge back to society for inmates transitioning into productive citizenship.
Projects accomplished by inmates last year and planned again this year include very rigorous work such as plantation maintenance and slash disposal; noxious weed pulling and removal; thinning; fire rehabilitation; and fuels reduction. Last year the expectations for forest rehabilitation activities were surpassed by 50 percent. Eighty inmates each worked 60-hours a week to successfully treat 3,200 acres of forested land in central Oregon.
"Last year the Forest Service realized over $1 million worth of work & emdash; work we would not have been able to accomplish if not for this partnership with the Department of Corrections," said Becki Heath, acting forest supervisor, Deschutes National Forest. "Working together, using inmate crews to accomplish labor-intensive work, our forest will be healthier, safer and more enjoyable for future generations."
Inmates, supervised around-the-clock by correctional officers, will again live in insulated federal surplus tents in the forest about 30 miles from Bend. The Deschutes Conservation Camp is modeled after Forest Service fire camps, a self-contained encampment where inmates stay on-site rather than being returned nightly to a correctional institution. This model saves transportation time, which limited past efforts to use inmate labor.
Training is an important component; it creates an environment where inmates enhance their knowledge and understanding of public land management. They receive job skills and safety training. Other training includes field crew and hand tool safety, forest health and noxious weed issues, building burnable slash piles, fire ecology and wildland fire fighting. Last year approximately 30 inmates were trained and became certified chain saw operators.
Corrections Captain Jeff Forbes is returning as camp commander. "Last year the conservation camp received tremendous support from the community. We plan to once again keep community safety as our number one priority and we´ll do that through running a safe camp and by engaging inmates in activities that ultimately protect this pristine environment."
In 1999, inmates completed over $1.02 million worth of work for a cost of $450,000 shared among the Department of Corrections, the US Forest Service, and the Oregon National Guard. This year´s camp is expected to run seven weeks and cost the US Forest Service no more than $300,000 with in-kind work performed by the Department of Corrections.
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last revision 5-10-2000damonp
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