‘Death by thousand cuts’: Reports allege widespread dysfunction at Oregon’s only women’s prison

WILSONVILLE Ore. (KPTV) - The Coffee Creek Correctional Facility is Oregon’s only women’s prison, and an exclusive tour granted to FOX 12 by the prison’s leadership is giving the community a closer look at the inside operations amid criticism of poor living conditions.

The prison opened its doors in 2002 to serve mainly women in custody who have been convicted of various levels of crime.

Coffee Creek Superintendent Nichole Brown and the director of the Department of Corrections Mike Reese showed FOX 12 cafeterias, sleeping quarters, recreation areas, mental health services and areas where inmates could learn trade skills.

Brown said the prison prides itself on giving women opportunities to find ways to better themselves and the community. Whether that is training puppies to become service dogs or working off-site.

“We have work crews for state parks, we have work crews going out to the Oregon Department of Transportation and providing additional support to the work we do in the community,” Brown said.

Alexandra Lukkason has been an inmate at Coffee Creek for more than eight years and teaches at the cosmetology school. She said the trade programs, like cosmetology, have improved her experience while being incarcerated.

“Of course being in prison is not great to be away from your family or to have to be in a cell, but without coming to prison I would have never changed my life as much as I have,” Lukkason said.

Hallways and living areas FOX 12 observed were clean, maintained, and orderly. Cleaning supplies were readily available for inmates to use.

“The adults in custody maintain the institution with sanitation,” Brown said.

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But three reports over the last eight months have been critical of the prison, claiming there’s widespread dysfunction leading to poor living conditions and mistreatment of the inmates.

Two of those reports were authored by the Oregon Justice Resource Center called ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts.’ Alice Lundell is the director of communications for the nonprofit.

“When the GIPA report was published last year, this was a big moment for a lot of the incarcerated people there, Lundell said. “They felt like ‘finally, somebody is seeing what’s happened to us, someone is paying attention.’ In the six months or so since the GIPA report unfortunately we haven’t seen the kind of changes at a scale we need to see them.”

The Gender Informed Practices Assessment or the GIPA Report published last summer was initiated by the state and conducted by a third party. It found retaliation for reporting wrongdoing, such as sexual misconduct, inadequate mental health services for those on suicide watch, and worsening living conditions since COVID-19.

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The Oregon Justice Resource Center’s latest report says the problems brought to light eight months ago are still happening.

“We seem to hear over and over again from women at the prison that the way they’re treated by certain staff is deeply inappropriate, at least, and abusive at worst,” Lundell said. “This culture of sexual abuse and sexual harassment is not being addressed we know this a persistent problem and we’re not seeing leadership take charge of the situation and doing something to prevent this.”

The Department of Correction and Coffee Creek disagree.

“We take any allegations of misconduct by staff or adults in custody very seriously,” Reese said. “If we have allegations like that we’re going to conduct a complete and thorough investigation and hold people accountable.”

Reese said the inmates are comfortable reporting any retaliation or abuse to the prison’s management.

“The vast majority of our staff are doing phenomenal work in a challenging environment, our good staff want to hold that person responsible,” Reese said.

But Lundell said the power dynamic between lower-level staff members like correction officers and those incarcerated creates barriers.

“When women make complaints, whether those complaints were taken seriously and investigated properly and dealt with or not, it’s a complex issue,” Lundell said. “You have a lack of accountability and you have the fear from women of retaliation.”

“We’re making sure people understand the policies regarding respectful workplace so we’re reiterating that with messages to staff,” Brown said. “We’re also encouraging them to work with adults in custody on this problem-solving together.”

Both Reese and Brown said they’re taking all reports and criticism of Coffee Creek seriously. Brown said the prison has a bid out to repair aging roofs. To improve transparency and communication there will also be monthly town halls.

“We want to lean into the criticisms,” Brown said. “We are not perfect, we don’t intend to be. Our teams are working hard to be responsive.”

“Do you want them back in the community healthy, happy, rehabilitated, ready to take on life outside of prison, be a success, and stay away from crime?” Lundell said. “Or do you want them to come out more broken from when they went in with more problems, more stressed, more traumatized, and coming back into the community unprepared? ... I think the choice is pretty simple.”

Brown said a full report of changes will be sent to Governor Tina Kotek in May.

Follow the links before to read all three reports:

• ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts’ Volume 1
• ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts’ Volume 2
• GIPA Report