PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Oregon’s two U.S. Senators are asking
\nthe new director of the federal Bureau of Prisons about recent allegations that
\nguards at the federal prison in Sheridan have retaliated against inmates who
\nare suing the prison.<\/p>\n
Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley wrote to Colette Peters,
\nformerly the head of Oregon’s Department of Corrections and now federal prison
\ndirector, demanding an update and answers to questions, The
\nOregonian\/OregonLive reported.<\/p>\n
“We are concerned about recent press reports that there
\nhas been retaliation and violence against inmates at FCI Sheridan for speaking
\nout about their experiences regarding unaddressed medical needs; small cell
\nconfinement; and limited access to family and lawyers as a result of the
\npandemic,” Wyden and Merkley wrote in a letter released Friday.<\/p>\n
They want to know by Sept. 19 if the prison is investigating
\nretaliation claims involving guards and whether a special operations response
\nteam was brought in.<\/p>\n
Further, they\u2019ve asked what steps the prison is taking to
\nensure inmates aren\u2019t confined in small spaces for extensive time, if they\u2019re
\nmaking sure inmates\u2019 health needs are taken care of appropriately and what\u2019s
\nbeing done to address urgent staffing needs.<\/p>\n
They said their offices also have gotten reports about
\nsignificant delays in getting treatment and competency evaluations for
\nincarcerated people who are believed to have significant mental health problems
\nand appear unable to help in their own defense.<\/p>\n
“We appreciate that you have just begun your tenure at
\nthe BOP, but given the urgency of the situation, we welcome a quick
\nresponse,” the letter said.<\/p>\n
Last month Oregon\u2019s federal public defender Lisa Hay asked a
\njudge to appoint a special investigator to look into allegations that guards at
\nthe prison are retaliating against those in custody for speaking out about
\ntheir conditions behind bars.<\/p>\n
The allegations come amid a pending federal petition by over
\nthree dozen incarcerated people who are seeking a reduction of their sentences
\nat the prison, citing two years of alleged unconstitutional conditions.<\/p>\n
On Aug. 4, U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman denied
\nHay\u2019s motion, saying the court lacked jurisdiction to order such relief about
\nconditions of imprisonment in the pending case that challenges the duration of
\ntheir confinement.<\/p>\n
Hay has asked the court to reconsider its ruling.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for the federal prisons bureau, in response, contend
\nthe inmates have not exhausted administrative grievance steps yet, and that the
\nfederal public defender is attempting to “shoehorn
\nconditions-of-confinement civil rights claims into a habeas petition,”
\naccording to a court filing by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John G.M. Coit and
\nAlison Milne.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Oregon’s two U.S. Senators are asking the new director of the federal Bureau of Prisons about recent allegations that guards at the federal prison in Sheridan have retaliated against inmates who are suing the prison. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley wrote to Colette Peters, formerly the head of Oregon’s Department […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n