DOC Heidi Talks January 2025 - SRCI Crisis Averted

On November 2, 2024, Snake River Correctional Institution discovered a missing adult in custody. While the AIC was found and no significant emergency transpired, Deputy Director Heidi Steward sat down with then SRCI Superintendent Jamie Miller to discuss the incident. They share information on what went well, and some lessons learned to prevent a future potential escape.

[@LoisRanstead]

3:50ish into the video, an AIC is being referred to as "it" I thought regardless of being an AIC, they were still humans.Why was the AIC referred to as "it"? @Oregon doc

[@dscottsw1]

The first thing that struck me was the lack of "consequences" for staff who violated policies. I know this is a crazy idea, but when "consequences" are so important to apply to the Adult in Custody population, equal attention should be given to staff who violate rules and policies. Who, in an 'inside the security area', would think it would be a good idea to keep spare sets of clothes in their office? Not to mention any other implements that could be used in escape attempts? While kudos to the wonderful staff are appreciated, it might be worth mentioning that this situation could have easily been prevented had Staff followed policies. You can't fix what you don't acknowledge, as offenders are often told. How easily are adults in custody sent to segregation even if they suspect they are doing something wrong? "Just a reminder to follow the rules" seems sufficient for staff. Hard to teach responsibility to people who are often not responsible with the paradigm, 'This is good for you, but not us.' This was great because hearing from Ms. Stewart, and Superintendent Miller was an AWESOME start at transparency. We'd also love to hear about things that didn't reflect so well on ODOC, like "Nintendo Switch Gate" at OSCI, or the situation with former officer Bowser (who apparently wasn't charged with an offense) or a similar event at EOCI which cost the taxpayers a huge amount of money.

[@LoisRanstead]

Do you mean by the "Nintendo Switch Gate" reference that AIC were unable to obtain them? And if so, I am aware that there is an issue at SRCI, with the claim that the prison is unable to have charging stations in the cell, because all cells that are not for the disabiled, aren't wired for a C power. Example, the cells are wired for only DC power currently accessible to the AIC's excluding the Disablied AIC cells. There is so much more going on at SRCI.