eastoregonian.com/front page/5-1-99
By VIVIANE GILBERT STEIN of the East Oregonian
PENDLETON - Despite a few minor glitches, the introduction of female inmates to Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution has progressed smoothly and successfully.
"Really good," reported Officer Dusty Hearn when asked how the last few months have gone at H Unit, the women's prison isolated within the medium-security men's prison.
"It has been very interesting."
Hearn was among the first crew of staff who volunteered for the grand adventure of housing women inside the formerly all-male prison.
He was just as enthusiastic about the task this week as he was last fall.
"It's been a great experience, getting to build something like we did," he said.
"It's been a good group effort."
Other staff agreed.
"Overall, it's just gone really well for us," said Kathy Jackson, assistant superintendent to the superintendent. "And things just seem to fall into place, with tweaking along the way."
Several staff attribute the unit's success to teamwork and solid support from Superintendent Jean Hill.
"It's been a lot of work but because everybody's pitched in, it's gone better than expected," said Unit Manager Lisa Large.
"We'd hoped from the beginning it'd be a team effort and that's what it's turned out to be."
If there's a fly in the ointment, it's a lack of resources to provide opportunities for the women similar to those the men receive in the larger prison environment.
"We don't have all of the internal resources to provide all of the programming we'd like," Jackson said. "Due to budgetary constraints, we do not have the staffing available to provide the programs we would like to be able to provide to the inmates."
Staff are doing their best, however. A series of parenting workshops was recently conducted with the help of community members offering their expertise, and cognitive skills workshops complement the basic education courses.
As it is, the core staff of 25 is kept hopping from task to task to cover all the bases.
"We have to be willing to go and work wherever the need is," explained Sgt. Jeri Taylor, who praised the staff. "They're really doing a good job pulling together and making it work."
And while they are still working out some procedural things, "I truly feel things are starting to smooth out," she said.
That's good, because establishing a routine helps inmates cope with life behind bars.
Although some of the staff viewed the new inmate population with some trepidation, Hearn and others spoke highly of their new wards.
"Female inmates are easy to work with, for the most part," he said. For one thing, they're much more polite, responding to staff requests with "yes, sir" and sprinkling about liberal doses of "please" and "thank you."
"Respect breeds respect," Hearn pointed out.
Of course, there are occasional difficulties. "Some of their problems are different than the men's, but you learn to adapt," he said.
Women inmates have "a lot of background issues ... a lot of excess baggage to carry around," Taylor said.
Attitude is another difference. "They seem to have a lot more issues they want answers to," she said. "They want explanations, and a reason why," while male inmates are more willing to follow orders without question.
EOCI is a stricter environment than many of the women have been incarcerated in before, but most are adjusting well, Hearn said.
As for Taylor, she wouldn't have believed it if someone had told her two years ago she'd be working with female inmates - and that she'd actually enjoy the change. Yet that's the case, she said.
"It's been real pleasant."