Executions: One Casualty Only, Please!
 
You may have read recent articles and/or editorials in several Oregon newspapers that decried the decisions of the Oregon Court of Appeals and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholding corrections rules in California and Oregon respectively that set boundaries on news media and public access to executions.
 
The news media consistently reported that the courts´ opinions were a blow to their First Amendment rights. True, we don´t allow witnesses free rein to view every detail, including volunteer staff members, leading up to the execution. Witnessing executions isn´t enough; they want more.
 
But that´s not what the suit was all about. To our staff this lawsuit was a matter of life and death.
 
The legal question in Oregon Newspaper Publisher´s Association v. Oregon Department of Corrections was whether the corrections officers (and by extension, their families) who carry out the public´s clear wish for capital punishment should, themselves, be placed in danger. The day after an execution these dedicated volunteers are back at work in our prisons. Is it fair to expose them to revenge attacks by violent criminals confined in our state prisons or by fanatics in the community?
 
Our rules allow us to protect against this threat by assuring the anonymity of many staff involved in the final hours and minutes of preparation for an execution. That´s what the suit was all about.
The department is gratified by the affirmation of its rules by the courts.
 
Forecast Predicts Few Changes
 
The state Office of Economic Analysis released its most recent prison population forecast on October 1.
 
Although the forecast reflects little change over the April 1, 1998 forecast, the prison population is still expected to grow by 70 percent (5,840 beds) over the next decade.
 
Ballot Measure 11 (1994) remains steady at 55 percent of the growth forecast.
The forecast for HB 3488 repeat property offenders has increased due primarily to longer lengths of stay than had been forecast in the previous forecast in April. HB 3488 accounts for 14 percent of the growth forecast for the next decade.
These most recent numbers indicate no change in the department´s Long Range Construction Plan, updated in April, is necessary.
 
When the Patient is an Inmate...
 
Hospice care has long provided an environment of compassion and support for terminally ill patients and their families. Thanks to a $500,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the efforts of the Volunteers of America (VOA), the benefits of hospice care are being introduced to prisons.
 
The VOA has asked three departments of corrections (Oregon, New York and North Carolina) to participate in their End of Life Care Project. The goal of the project is to help develop, in each of the states, prison hospice programs that can be used as models for other departments nationwide.
 
When the patient is an inmate, end-of-life care takes on new dimensions because of security and cost concerns. Hospice care alleviates many of those concerns: to transport inmates to the community for care is tremendously expensive because of security demands and hospital costs. Hospitals watches, for instance, require at least one correctional officer to be with an inmate at all times. With hospice care, terminally ill inmates will die dignified, pain-free deaths while remaining incarcerated.
 
Oregon´s hospice care program is being developed by an interdisciplinary team of department staff and will be located at Oregon State Penitentiary. Their goal is to accept the first patient by January 1, 1999.
 
In 1997, 26 of 34 inmates who died while incarcerated had terminal illnesses. As the prison population ages, those numbers are expected to rise.
 
Recent Suicides Prompt Action
 
In the wake of three suicides in the space of as many weeks, the department stepped up prevention efforts in correctional facilities.
 
Following the incidents, mental health case managers in institutions alerted all correctional staff who work with inmates that we were in a high risk time. They advised staff of warning signs of suicides and what to do if they suspected an inmate was contemplating harm. Additionally they maintain a high presence in the prisons, particularly on the yard and in the cell blocks.
 
"We´re very concerned," said Dr. Gary Field, mental health administrator. "We know suicides run in groups and this is a very impressionable population. We´re on high alert to stop this cluster now."
 
For perspective, Dr. Field researched some statistics regarding suicides. He found:

• Oregon is 10th in overall state suicide rates among the public at large.
• Oregon overall suicide rates range between 25 percent and 42 percent higher than the national average of the public at large.
• According to a national study that tracked all prison suicides between 1984 and 1994, Oregon ranked 24th.
• Based on our history and national experience, Oregon could expect three (adult) prison inmate suicides a year.
• Since the department´s new mental health system went into effect two years ago, there was one suicide, bringing the department´s two year total to four suicides.
• Oregon´s current prison suicide rate is 1.4 times the current Oregon suicide rate.
• National prison suicide rates run between 1.8 and 2.0 times the national suicide rate.
  

General suicide risk factors found by the Oregon Health Division (1997) that are characteristic of inmates include:

• High school dropouts
• Mental health problems
• History of unemployment
• Poor health habits
• History of poverty
• Unstable marital status
• Alcoholism and drug abuse

"Our mental health staff conducts scores of reviews of inmates we think may be contemplating suicide - as many as 20 or 30 a day," Dr. Field explained. "The three in late summer caught us by surprise. We are doing everything we can to prevent similar tragedies."
 
New Prison Rule Targets Sexually Explicit Material
 
The Oregon Department of Corrections has crafted changes to its administrative rules governing the sending, receipt and processing of inmate mail in state prisons. The rule amendments expand and clarify prohibitions on several important types of incoming and outgoing mail. The changes affect sexually explicit materials, business transactions and mail that is unwanted by its recipients. The amended rules become effective December 1.
 
Sexually Explicit Material
The amended rules give administrators of Oregon´s 13 prisons greater control over sexually explicit materials that inmates are allowed to receive and possess. Department officials expect the new rules to decrease commerce among inmates of grossly offensive sexually explicit materials and make the prisons more conducive to the rehabilitation of sex offenders.
 
Under the new rules, inmates are prohibited from receiving or possessing publications, personal photographs or other material which depicts actual or simulated sexual acts, behaviors, and/or excretory functions.
 
Importantly, the Department of Corrections is molding the state´s prisons into productive habitats with values that mirror the outside world. "This material is not appropriate in a correctional setting," said Assistant Director Nick Armenakis. "These changes will create a healthier atmosphere for inmates to pursue programmatic and rehabilitation goals."
 
"It is well established in corrections that sexually explicit material causes operational concerns," added Assistant Director Frank Thompson.
 
"Correctional authorities and mental health experts agree that sexually explicit material creates demand for sexual favors and sexual gratification as well as the opportunity for arguments over possession rights of such materials."
 
The public and inmates had the opportunity to comment on the rule changes and some of their suggestions were incorporated.
 
Inmates were advised of the impending changes in prison newsletters and other official communications. The December 1 effective date for the rule was selected to give inmates time to cancel subscriptions to publications that may not comply with the new rules. Additionally, inmates have been given a grace period to seek review of sexually explicit material that may already be in their possession in order to determine if the material complies with the new rules. If not approved, the materials must be destroyed or sent out of the institutions at inmate expense.
 
Unwanted Mail
In addition to expanding and clarifying the department´s prohibition against the sending and receipt of sexually explicit materials by inmates, the amended rules will prohibit inmates from sending correspondence or other mail to persons who do not want to receive it. Under the new rules, the department will restrict inmates from sending unwanted mail to a particular person or address upon request from the person or addressee. People who wish to stop receiving inmate mail should contact the prison where the inmate is incarcerated for guidelines on restricting mail.
 
This restriction closely parallels an existing department policy that enables citizens to block unwanted collect phone calls from inmates.
 
Business Transactions
The amended rules will also prohibit inmates from conducting business transactions through the mail without the prior approval of the prison superintendents or their designee(s).
 
"These changes and additions to the rule have been greatly anticipated by the department," said Corrections Director Dave Cook. "Our job is to maintain security, good order and discipline in our facilities. We have a responsibility to stop criminal activity that originates in and from prisons. We need to protect citizens from unwanted contact with inmates.
"The new rules will accomplish all of the above."
 
Around the State...

• Employees and volunteers at Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario hail from more than one state. As of June 1998: