Oregon

JS Blog Post January 3, 2019

Darina Interview: Stories told by Children of Incarcerated Parents

Riley Hewko, Esq.

Two years ago, Patricia Allard and I wrote a Huffington Post blog highlighting a video of 8-year-old Darina’s wish for her father’s transfer from a federal prison in Texas to one in Oregon. It seemed like it would take a miracle, but with the help of her community he was transferred last year. Darina still can’t even think of the ultimate miracle— having her dad come home. 

This year I had the opportunity to chat with Darina, now 10-years-old about her thoughts on her dad’s incarceration, her most recent visit, and some advice for young people in her situation. You can listen to the interview here.

JS Blog Post October 29, 2018

Oregon State Continues to Lead in Supporting Children of Incarcerated Parents

Riley Hewko, Esq.

Oregon continues to lead in providing support for children of incarcerated parents. A recent training “Incarcerated Parents: Don’t Forget About Me” given earlier this month by Oregon Department of Corrections’ (DOC) Administrator of Programs & Social Support Services and the Department of Human Services (DHS) reflects a tone of changing attitudes often possessed by child welfare and prison staff. Specifically, the second and third slides of the presentation with their beliefs include: Read more »

JS Blog Post October 27, 2018

The Family First Prevention Services Act Offers Support for Children of Incarcerated Parents

Riley Hewko, Esq.

Last spring, groundbreaking legislation, The Family First Prevention Services Act (“FFPSA”), was signed into law as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act allowing states to use federal funding to help keep families together and avoid out of home foster care placement entirely. Specifically, the legislation changes the way that Title IV-E funds can be spent by states by allowing funds to be used for prevention services that help keep kids at home or with their relatives. Prevention services include for example, mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services, in-home skill-based parenting programs, foster care maintenance payments for children with parents in residential family-based substance abuse treatment facilities, and payments for kinship navigator programs.

Read more »
JS Blog Post April 7, 2017

“An Unlikely Partnership”: A New Film Fostering the Possibilities of Alternatives to Incarceration for Parents

Lillian M. Hewko, J.D.

“I got arrested 5 days before my kid’s 6th birthday, they’re 9 years old now...I was just so low. Not being able to see my kids. Having to call on the phone. Having to ask, is this Brianna or is this Michaela. There shouldn’t ever be a point in my life where I don’t know whose voice I’m hearing.”

These are the words of a formerly incarcerated mother from in a recent film “An Unlikely Partnership: Strengthening Families Touched By Incarceration.” These words exhibit the reality that although the time spent parenting from the inside is invaluable, the pain of being separated and not being able to parent on a consistent basis is heartbreaking. Fortunately, in this mother’s case she was able to get early release to be with her twins at about 12 months under the Family Offender Sentencing Alternative’s (FOSA) Community Parenting Alternative (Early Release) in Washington State. Read more »

JS Blog Post March 28, 2017

Grasping at the Root: A young father's path to incarceration.

Lillian M. Hewko

This is the first in a series of blog posts on fatherhood* and incarceration by Justice Strategies featuring Daniel Loera, a 21-year-old father of a 4-year-old daughter, currently serving time at Monroe Correctional Facility in Washington State. Daniel is navigating both the prison and child welfare systems in an attempt to maintain his parental rights.

Daniel was 16 when he committed the crime of assault. Along with a cousin, and under the influence of drugs, he followed two strangers outside of a Walmart to rob them. Daniel beat the young man he had followed with the butt of a gun and then fled the scene in his cousin’s car, only to be picked up two blocks away and then identified in a lineup. He was automatically charged as an adult, sentenced to 7.75 years of prison and 3 years of community custody.

When I sit across from Daniel, I can hardly imagine the young man described in the police report. When asked about his young self, Daniel says: Read more »

JS Blog Post September 30, 2015

Family Sentencing Alternatives: Oregon's New Pilot Program

Patricia Allard

Oregon is the latest state to consider the possibility of diverting parents of minor children away from prison to enable them to serve their sentence in the community under supervision. On August 12, 2015, the Oregon Governor signed into law Chapter 830 of the Oregon Revised Statutes, which gave life to the Family Sentencing Alternative Pilot Program (FSAPP).  The FSAPP has particular eligibility criteria, including that

 

  1. The person is likely to be sentenced to a prison term in the legal and physical custody of the Department of Corrections for at least one year;

 

  1. The person “has not previously been convicted of and is not currently being sentenced for:”

 

  1. A sex crime;
  2. Certain felony offenses (i.e. violent offenses) requiring a determinate sentence or a mandatory sentence; offences involving unlawful delivery of  controlled substances, including specifically to minors; or offenses involving driving while under the influence of intoxicants; and

  Read more »

News Article

Oregon women hard-hit by prison population growth

Women's prison population growth outstripped growth in the men's population in every state during the past 27 years. A different trend has emerged since the end of 1999. Women continue to be disproportionately impacted in states where overall growth rates remain high. But among states that experienced little or no prison population growth, a large majority saw growth rates for female prisoners fall below rates for males.

Read more »
JS Publication June 30, 2004

Did Oregon's Measure 11 work? Other States Achieve Greater Crime Reductions at Lower Cost

Supporters of Ballot Measure 11 claim that the reform has served as a cost-effective crime control strategy. Yet a comparison of crime patterns and incarceration rates in Oregon with patterns in other states shows that remarkable reductions in crime rates have occurred elsewhere without recourse to a huge and costly expansion of prison capacity.

1994 was a seismic year for the US criminal justice system. Congressional enactment of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act spurred many states to stiffen penalties for people convicted of crime. That same year Oregon voters passed Ballot Measure 11, creating sharply increased sentences for nearly two dozen violent offenses.

Many of its supporters argue that Measure 11 has made a substantial contribution to the decrease in Oregon's violent crime rate since 1995, serving as a cost-effective crime control strategy. Yet a comparison of crime patterns and incarceration rates in Oregon with patterns in other key states shows that remarkable reductions in crime rates have occurred elsewhere without recourse to a huge and costly expansion of prison capacity. Moreover, recent research on deterrence and incapacitation does not provide support for the notion that longer sentences reduce crime rates. Read more »

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