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Last week, WW heard from an inmate at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility that yard access was being limited at Oregon’s only women’s prison.
Inmates were being confined to their bunks, and dayroom access was being reduced as well—while their guards passed out donuts and attended barbecues in honor of National Correctional Officers Week, says Deirdre Sauer, who is currently an inmate at a minimum security unit at Coffee Creek.
National Correctional Employees Week was established by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, who noted in his proclamation that correctional employees are “essential to the day-to-day operations of these institutions.”
This year, the week began May 8. “We haven’t had normal operations here in probably two weeks,” says Sauer, who spoke with WW over the phone from the facility earlier this week. “Their staff appreciation shouldn’t affect inmate operations.”
A spokeswoman for Oregon Department of Corrections confirmed much of Sauer’s account. The facility had been “on modified operations from 9:30 am-6 pm to celebrate National Correctional Employees Week,” communications manager Betty Bernt tells WW, explaining that dayrooms were closed early and evening yard times started late.
“While some movement was being restricted, the [adults in custody] were still participating in their programming and had access to yards and dayrooms at least once per day,” she added.
Sauer also told WW that yard access has been limited for weeks due to short staffing and that schedule changes are expected to continue throughout the summer.
Another ODOC spokeswoman, Amber Campbell, confirmed that staffing availability can affect facility operations. She noted that over 10% of corrections officer positions at Coffee Creek are currently unfilled, and officers are working an average of 8,300 hours of overtime per month to make up the difference. Coffee Creek has the third-most vacancies of all ODOC facilities in Oregon, Campbell said.
ODOC is currently facing additional scrutiny thanks to a whistleblower lawsuit filed earlier this month by an employee at the Oregon State Correctional Institution accusing the prison of lax safety practices and retaliation from her superiors.