The Oregon Department of Corrections Amid Covid-19 (Part Four)
Incarcerated workers at Oregon State Penitentiary could use their call center to help.
BY MICHAEL D. KELL
PART ONE (3/26)
PART TWO (4/15)
PART THREE (4/23)
PART FOUR (5/13)
PART FIVE (5/14)
PART SIX (5/26)
PART SEVEN (8/14)
PART EIGHT (9/29)
DUE TO THEIR quite understandable fear of getting infected by Covid-19, many of our seniors are down and out—out of contact, that is. Many are shut-in and don’t have family or friends to rely upon to check on them or to bring them the essentials they need. I watch and listen to the astute journalists reporting on the needs of our many Oregon seniors and can’t help but feel that those of us here in prison can help.
Portland’s Meals on Wheels organization has begun a “friendly chat” program to connect volunteers with seniors who are feeling disconnected and lonely because of the current situation. Oregon Corrections Enterprises operates an outbound call center here at Oregon State Penitentiary that typically employs approximately ninety inmates as telemarketers, but the call center has been shuttered due to the governor’s order to shut down all non-essential businesses. This leaves us the unique opportunity to utilize the facility to “make the rounds” on a call list handed off by organizations like Meals on Wheels to check in on seniors and provide a friendly chat. If we were to observe safe social distancing guidelines, the call center would still be large enough to allow a pool of twenty agents to man the phones. The program would not be a professional suicide prevention hotline or any type of mental health related service and therefore would not require its agents to be certified in any way.
The telecom trunk lines for this industry are ultimately paid for with taxpayers’ dollars and since they cannot be rightfully utilized at this time for any Ashurst-Sumners Act certified industry program, they should be used for something productive and progressive, something that can help us get through this crisis together.
This proposition represents just one of the many ways corrections in Oregon could, and should, serve the taxpayer.
Michael D. Kell is an inmate at Oregon State Penitentiary.
