The Oregon Department of Corrections Amid Covid-19 (Part Five)
A prisoner at Oregon State Penitentiary writes that prisoners are processing Covid-19 infected laundry from the state of Washington. If true, it would be a federal violation.
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)
Note from the author: This is essentially an update to Part 3— for those who may have missed it, its topic was the operation of the ODOC OCE Laundry at the penitentiary in Salem, and its processing of COVID-19 infected materials.
Not so closely held sources (as in a matter of public records) indicate that the OCE Laundry at the Oregon State Penitentiary is now processing Covid-19 infected materials from Washington state. Yes, in direct violation of criminal code (Ashurst-Sumners Act), the OCE Laundry is now processing medical industry materials from out of state. It appears it’s not enough for OCE to place Oregon’s prison population in a potentially life-threatening environment doing Oregon’s medical industry laundry, but they also find it necessary to utilize our prison laborers to do Covid-19 infected laundry from our neighbors up north as well.
Not only is this practice a liability and ethics issue, it is also a criminal act which can carry up to two years in a federal prison and/or a $50,000 fine to each person found to be involved in perpetrating the matter. Because the Ashurst-Sumners Act is federal code, all prison officials are legally required to be aware of it. On top of that, all of the employees and agents working for the medical industry organizations in Washington who have assisted in the furtherance of the deal are also at risk of criminal prosecution.
In the original piece (Part 3) I mention the “unconscionable level of unethical conduct by the corrections staff.” It now appears that in the interest of making a few bucks, ODOC will not only breach liability and ethics code, they have no problem violating criminal code as well.
Michael D. Kell is an inmate at Oregon State Penitentiary.
