Hi, everyone—it’s me, your friendly neighbourhood freelance defense attorney! I haven’t had much to blog about recently due to work; I’m busy expanding my practice in Salem and winding down what remains in Tilamook (I’ll write about that in more detail if there are any major developments). The biggest thing in recent months is that I’ve started contract work as a public defender with Salem Municipal Court. I’ll likely go into more detail about that next month, but it’s getting me back in semi-regular action and has been feeding into my workload. I’m still holding out for a more permanent position, but hourly work keeps me busy and is paying the bills for now (even if it makes me a little obsessive with timekeeping).
However, the thing that finally convinced me to write a new post was a little adventure I had this week: on Memorial Day, I got to go to Oregon State Penitentiary!
…yay?
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| I did not take any pictures of Oregon State Penitentiary as (a) I did not bring my phone with me for security reasons and (b) taking photos of highly secure government buildings tends to attract the wrong kind of attention these days. Instead, I will be featuring photos of completely unrelated facilities. For example, here is the Delfino Plaza jail from Super Mario Sunshine. I do not have any clients incarcerated here. |
This isn’t my first time going to the slammer for professional reasons. I’ve made multiple trips to county jails in Marion County and Polk County to visit clients (the former of which I spent so much time in the visiting area that I used to call it my secondary office). I’ve also visited Coffee Creek Correctional Facility (Oregon’s only women’s prison*, which also serves as the intake center for the Oregon Department of Corrections) when I was interning at the Federal Public Defender in Portland during law school. This was a whole other degree: Oregon State Penitentiary is Oregon’s only maximum-security prison and contains men’s death row and the state execution chamber (which has been used only twice post-Furman**). Thankfully, my business had nothing to do with capital punishment; I was there to go over paperwork with a client related to a municipal matter not connected to his imprisonment. For this minor case, I found myself going to the most secure prison in Oregon early on Monday morning.
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| Here is the detention block of RAS Prosecutor from Star Wars: Republic Commando. I have never visited a client here. |
*A quick note for those that don’t know: the words “jail” and “prison” mean different things in the American criminal justice system. Broadly speaking, a “jail” (also known as a “detention center,” “remand center,” or “lockup”) is a facility operated on a local level (usually by a county sheriff or municipal police department) used to detain suspects prior to trial or for short-term incarceration (particularly for misdemeanors). A “prison” (sometimes known as a “correctional facility,” “corrections institute,” or “penal institution”) is a facility operated by a state correctional authority or the Federal Bureau of Prisons for long-term imprisonment of those convicted of felonies or incarceration of convicts awaiting appeals or execution. A prison can also be known as a “penitentiary” or “reformatory” depending on the penal philosophy of the facility—a penitentiary tends to emphasize rehabilitation through constant surveillance work-based discipline, while a reformatory usually pursues reform through education and rewarding morality. You now know a bunch of terms in the criminal justice system, and knowing is half the battle.
**Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972) was a U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that arbitrary or inconsistent application of the death penalty was unconstitutional, resulting in capital punishment being de facto outlawed in the United States until constitutional criteria for the death penalty were determined in Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976). Most modern scholarly analysis of the death penalty in the United States only focuses on death sentences imposed and executed after Furman. If you didn’t know what the phrase “post-Furman” means, now you know.
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| Here is the Gizzard Gulch town jail from Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath. I have not met with any clients here. |
I woke up early on Memorial Day (which happened to be the most convenient day for this meeting) feeling fully prepared. Not only had I laid everything out needed to wear and carry before going to bed, but I learned that Oregon State Penitentiary was only 4 minutes away by car. After grabbing a quick cold brew, I made it to the prison easily enough. While I have dealt with varying degrees of security procedures at courthouses and jails, it turns out a maximum-security prison is much more secure than any of them. I was not allowed to bring anything besides ID, my paperwork, and a pen and had to leave the entire contents of my pockets in a locker out front. I went through an airport-like checkpoint complete with removed shoes and a metal detector. Furthermore, I constantly had to show off my ID and a stamp on my hand any time I entered a new room. In all my years of going to court, going to jail, flying to and from Hawaii, and working in government buildings, I can safely say this is the most security I’ve ever had to get through at once…which, to be fair, is what I expected with a maximum-security prison. Thankfully, meeting my client and going over paperwork went extremely smoothly, so security was the only unpleasant part of this errand. Between the professionalism of the staff (at least the ones I interacted with) and the beauty of the grounds outside (which I didn’t photograph for previously mentioned reasons), I can see how Oregon State Penitentiary has 4.3 stars on Yelp!
…Seriously, it has 4.3 stars on Yelp. To be honest, I don’t think I’d rate it that highly, but I’m not in the business of reviewing prisons. While being an American Gustav de Beumont (a 19th century French prosecutor who toured and reviewed several American penitentiaries with his friend and colleague, the future political philosopher Alexis de Tocquville—you’re learning so much today!) has some appeal, it’s not what I see in the cards for now. I’ll stick with my present calling: getting clients out of jail and keeping them out of prison (or at least making sure their stays are short).
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| This is a solitary confinement cell at United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island (aka USP Alcatraz or Alcatraz Federal Prison), a notorious maximum-security federal prison in the San Francisco Bay. I have been here twice, but not as a lawyer. This photo was taken during my second tour there thirteen years ago (...man, I feel old typing that). |
Aside from occasional prison-based excitement, work’s been chugging along as well as I can expect. Hopefully, I’ll be able to gain a more permanent position soon. In the meantime, I’m making sure to enjoy the little things in life, from the warmth of my morning coffee to the adorable chaos of the Serotonin Squad. Squeaking of those little monsters, I think the best way to finish this (somewhat pedantic) post off is a few more photos of their adorableness. Enjoy, and see you next time!
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| Fits the decor! |
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| surveillance duty |
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| Sometimes, they hop on my shoulders while I'm on the toilet... |
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| ...and sometimes, they just put their paws on me and insist to be picked up. |
