Month: June 2023

The safety inspector for all of the Oregon prisons came in to talk to the prisoners at CCCF who wrote to the regional chapter of OSHA about the unsafe conditions here. He was well aware of them, but has no authority over the Department of Corrections. He said he proposed some safety changes back in 2007, but that DOC said no to them. Why is there no authority or accountability over DOC? Especially when people’s lives are at stake?

One lady at CCCF is here because she caught her 7 year old daughter’s substitute teacher in the act of sexual assault. She stabbed him in the neck because she was triggered from the sexual abuse she suffered herself as a child.

While he was bleeding out she called 911 and administered CPR but she could not save him. She was given 25 years to life. A man with an extensive record had stabbed a sex offender as well who then bled out an died. He was given only 27 months. The Oregon system of justice is clearly biased against women.

The laws in Oregon have not been adjusted to give equality to men and women. There are on harshly with first time offenders, especially women. This causes many families to be split up and children sent into the foster care system, which is also overrun with corruption and abuse. We need to have laws here adjusted for more fairness and equality.

Today is Juneteenth and it is our hope here in Oregon and in America to end slavery truly. Many of us in the prison system, especially women, feel like we have been railroaded and forced into slavery. The laws and the prison system are still based on the way things were done ages ago when slavery was part of America. We really need an update!

The courts should no longer be a “good old boys” network. Judges should be replaced with people who will act fairly and without bias. There are too many people in the prison system who simply should not be here. This is true not only here at CCCF, but in America.

Amanda Stott-Smith died last night in her cell here at CCCF. We have many ladies here who go to medical with symptoms of major problems, like heart attacks, strokes and blood clots, only to be sent back to their cells having receive no help. How many more deaths will it take for us to get better medical care here? Other ladies who were friends of hers said she was complaining of chest pains for several days before she died, but CCCF medical would not do anything about it. What is it going to take for America to see that “All Lives Matter” even people in prison.

The lady at CCCF who was arrested and convicted without probably cause had 3 lawyers on her public defenders team and none of them brought that up at her trial. In fact, when she had not eaten in over 2 months at Washington County Jail and had 2 black eyes for a month, she begged them to let her out. Instead, she was convicted because of discrimination.

Her lawyer friend in Seattle knew what was going on as well. He also knew about the felony assault on her by the abusive ex-boyfriend. Isn’t it incredible when people take the side of the abuser?

In fact, many of her friends knew what was going on and either tried to minimize it, blame it on her, or ignore it. Even some of her own family did this.

Her ex-husband, who is now a police officer, has refused any kind of response when she write to him, maybe because he himself was abusive when they were married. No wonder she had 2 black eyes for a month and was nearly starved to death at Washington County Jail.

If she wanted to, she could have a huge lawsuit against the County and the State. It is $65,000 a year with a wrongful conviction and she has been incarcerated for a year and a half now. All she wants is to be released so she can go home to take care of her parents with terminal illnesses.

Here at CCCF we have a lady who had a heart attack and spent two hours in Medical resting, and then was sent back to her cell. Another lady came back last night from Medical crying and holding her shoulder. They gave her 2 aspirin and an ice pack and sent her back to her cell. It couldn’t be more obvious that they just don’t care about us here.

Several of us at CCCF wrote to OSHA about the bunk beds and stairs people keep falling out of and sustaining serious injuries. They wrote back saying, in a nutshell, they don’t care.

People seem to think that, just because we are in here, we deserve to be here, but that is not the case as you can see from previous postings here. Everyone appealing their case has their conviction put on hold while their appeal proceeds and finished and they have a chance at overturning it. Appeals handles mistakes of the judge at trial, but we wonder why there are so many mistakes and, if the judge is so honorable, then why are judges making so many mistakes in the first place. These are not just small mistakes either. They seriously affect the outcomes of trials. In the meantime, people spend years in prison.

People in prison are still U.S. citizens and still have rights that need to be respected. People’s property should not be taken from their cells with no explanation.

The lady at CCCF who was given a life sentence does not want to sue the prison or the State of Oregon for a wrongful conviction. All she wants it to be exonerated so she can go home and take care of her family.

Those of us here at CCCF cannot seem to understand why the system seem to show favoritism to men. There are many women here who have done the same crimes as men and have gotten a lot longer sentences with less of a previous record.

The lady here who lost her half million dollar condo to discrimination had been invited to go live with a man she had know for almost 20 years. She was very grateful and did what she could to help him. The started dating and were living together on Vashon Island (off the coast of Seattle). They were very isolated there. Eventually he became abusive – both physically and mentally. Her mother had given her a credit card so she could try to get away from him. She was very grateful to her mother and began giving her mother cash to pay off the credit card charges (way more than the monthly charges). The next thing she knew, her mother cancelled the card and stopped talking to her altogether.

She had already left the abusive boyfriend but when one of his friends called her over to his house to help him she did, not knowing her ex-boyfriend would be there. All of the sudden she saw him coming towards her with a cinder block above his head, ready to throw it. She tried to drive away, but he threw it hard enough to break the car window and hit her in the head. She was able to drive to safety but could not keep her head wound from bleeding. The bleeding finally stopped about two hours later.

She was able to get her ex-boyfriend to agree to fix her car window, which is admittance of his guilt. But he denied it to their mutual friends and even to her mother. He told them that she was on drugs to get them to believe him over her. Her mother did not even talk to her about it for 6 years. When this lady was falsely arrested with no probably cause a detective went to interview her mother. Her mother then told the detective that her daughter was a drug user and a prostitute. This could not have been further from the truth because her daughter was actually so responsible that she was trying to help her father and stepmother move into a house. The trailer they were living in had black mold on the ceiling and may be the cause of her step-mother’s COPD getting worse. Her stepmother ended up with blood clots in her nose and had to be operated on to remove them. Her father had been left at home alone with Stage 2 Alzheimer’s and dementia. This lady continues to sit at CCCF while her parents really need her. Her abusive ex-boyfriend is still out there and free to do other crimes. He refuses to give her back her property as well.

This lady has had everything taken from her. First, her half million dollar condo, then her vehicle by the police at her arrest even though they did not have a warrant, her personal things by her ex-boyfriend, and now by officers at CCCF taking her personal items, including a TV that she paid for. When will all this discrimination stop?

One lady at CCCF got married during her last year of service in the Navy. She supported her husband while he started college, and when she was honorably discharged and started college herself her husband was all packed and ready to leave when she got home. He told her he wanted a divorce and there wasn’t much she could do, even though she thought she had married for life. She was left at the apartment alone with no way to pay her bills, while she had a full schedule of classes that she did not want to drop. That is when she started in the adult industry. This is the same lady mentioned in the 1 May 2023 post on this website, and that is where the long road of discrimination for her began. She was later forced out of her half million dollar condo illegally and then convicted of a crime where they did not even have probably cause to arrest her in the first place. The jury was prejudiced by showing videos of her being in the adult industry and convicted her and sent her to CCCF, where she is only experiencing further discrimination and not given a job or allowed to level up, while her parents are depending on her helping them with their home. They have terminal illnesses and CCCF is not even allowing her to talk to them on the phone. This is a violation of her first amendment rights. Her fifth amendment rights are also being violated at this facility. This ladies ex-husband is now a police officer and has offered her no support through this whole ordeal. He will not even respond to her letters when she writes him.