If ladies at CCCF try to stand up for their rights they are given psychological evaluations. There are also many ladies that need counseling who are not given help and left to fend for themselves.
We continue to have people who are innocent of the crime they are accused of who are bullied into taking plea deals both here at CCCF and at other prisons in Oregon. It is cheaper to imprison people who take plea deals, so the prosecutors are under pressure to get convictions whether or not the person is guilty. This leads to a lot of lying, cheating and stealing by the prosecutors. Many ladies here have to deal with this problem during their appeals. But when they raise issues about ineffective counsel or Brady violation they are told it was not part of the defense strategy or did not affect the jury’s decision. When these issues are brought to light in the press they act like it is a rare occurrence, when in reality it happens all the time, both here and in other prisons.
We have a lot of staff burnout here because on a deeper level they know they are committing crimes against humanity. They may not realize it on an everyday level but, deep down, we all know the difference between right and wrong here. We have staff who have quit their jobs because of the prisoner treatment they have witnessed. Others just stay here for the paycheck.