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Staff at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, which is the only women’s prison in Oregon, began transferring approximately 100 adults in custody on Sept. 27 from the minimum security facility to the nearby medium security facility.
Once that transfer is complete, and after 14 days of quarantine, Coffee Creek will transfer another group of about 100 women from minimum to medium security. The facilities are located a few hundred feet away from each other on the same campus.
Oregon Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jennifer Black says DOC anticipates transferring 205 out of the total 338 women who are housed in the minimum facility. The remaining 133—which consists mostly of work crews, those enrolled in drug and alcohol treatment programs and mothers who are in the “Early Head Start” childcare program—will stay at minimum.
The reason for the transfer: to alleviate ongoing staffing shortages, DOC says.
“Staffing has become such an issue that security staff are required to work two mandatory overtime shifts per week,” Black says. “A small number of staff have turned in their resignations due to the mandated overtime hours having a negative impact on their personal lives.”
Black says the prison is operating at 65% capacity, with 52 vacant security positions. Prior to the move, the medium facility housed 469 women, bringing the state’s total women’s prison population to 807.
The minimum security facility is primarily open, dorm-style housing. The medium facility is mostly cells. This transfer will reduce the number of staff needed to supervise the women in custody, Black says. One the majority have been moved to minimum, 28 security staff will also shift their assignment to the medium facility.
The prison staffing shortage isn’t relegated to Coffee Creek.
“We are facing staffing shortages at several of our institutions,” Black says. “DOC employees are working hard to recruit and hire new staff for open positions across the state.”
Data from DOC shows a total of 273 prison security staff vacancies statewide. Two Rivers Correction Institution has the largest number of vacancies—61—followed by Coffee Creek’s 52 vacancies, and Eastern Oregon Correction Institution and Snake River Correctional Institution, which both have 44 vacancies each.
Oregon Gov, Kate Brown says she supports DOC decision to consolidate the Coffee Creek facilities.
“The Governor’s priority is to help ensure that our state’s correctional facilities are safe for both staff and adults in custody,” Brown’s spokeswoman Liz Merah said in a statement. “She supports DOC’s decision to consolidate adults in custody into existing facilities to address staffing issues when possible, keeping safety at the forefront of these decisions. The Governor is not planning to use her executive clemency powers to commute the sentences of adults in custody as a mechanism to address staffing shortages.”