PSU Magazine Fall 1992

his son, Martin Luther King Jr., hangs today on his office wall. Social issues continued to be a keen interest for him when he returned to PSU, so he devoted himself to studying society. If corrections wasn't exactly at the forefront of his mind as he thought about careers, at least it fit with his sociological studies. It even had ele– ments of the kind of social service work that he envisioned before entering the working world: the idea that these were people just like you and me, but they had made mistakes. He believed they could be rehabilitated to function in society once again. "Since then I've learned there's more to it than that. There's more of a well-defined criminal personality. It's not just that they made mistakes, but some of them wanted to do these things. Deviance is different for dif– ferent people-some people are thieves, some are sex offenders-but they often exhibit the same criminal thinking: I can do whatever I want to and get away with it because society's rules don't apply to me." He says that 20 years ago he was a na'ive, idealistic college graduate, but that even today, after two decades in the system, he hasn't lost sight of the possibility that most prisoners can be rehabilitated. But that vision is tinged with a cynicism that can only come with con– stant exposure to the criminal element of society. It's a vision that comes with "seeing what people will do to their fel– low man or the extent to which they will lie, cheat, and manipulate, and think it's OK to do so, and do it con– stantly." It's easy to punish a criminal behavior. But correcting a criminal mindset is a daunting task, and is most often up to the prisoner. The task of a prison superintendent is to offer the means by which prisoners can come to grips with the errors of their ways, and help them to make their own changes. Columbia River is doing that through an intensive drug and alcohol treatment program. There are two programs: one for men and one for women, with about 50 inmates in each. The sexes are kept separate in the pro- gram so that women inmates can speak freely about past sexual abuse--often the trigger of their substance prob– lems-without the presence of men. It also has an education program operated through Portland Community College that helps inmates earn their GED. Another program, "Breaking Barriers," helps inmates learn sound decision-making skills. "Women in Corrections" is a program that teaches life skills for women who are making the transition back to society. The prison also features a work release program that allows prisoners to spend time outside the prison walls working in jobs within the larger com– munity. While they're inside, prisoners sleep in dormitories rather than indi– vidual cells. The prison has a handful of high-security cells, but they are reserved for special disciplinary cases. All these programs, which enhance the lives of the prisoners doing time and help them make the transition to the outside world, will protect Colum– bia River Correctional Institution from the possibility of Measure 5 cutbacks, says McGee. The programs give prisoners a good shot at reforming their lives and learn– ing skills that will keep them out of prison in the future. The institution is a place for maximum security prisoners to graduate to--an incentive, even if they're serving time for murder or rape, to go to a better place if they behave within the system. The Columbia River correctional Institution al o provides a place other than a maximum security prison for those who have committed less serious crimes. Often, young petty criminals become hardened and learn more ad– vanced criminal behavior when they are sentenced to a maximum security prison. When they get out, they commit worse crimes and are sent back to maximum security in what can become a lifetime chain of crime and imprisonment. Mike McGee '71 is superintendent of Columbia River Correctional lnstitu· tion in northeast Portland. "If the person is only going to be in prison for six months anyway, why not send him to a place where you control that environment a little bit? That is what we're trying to do in minimum security," says McGee. D (John R. Kirkland, a Portland freelance writer, is a regular contributor to PSU Magazine.) PSU 13