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| Superintendent Makes Good |
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For Immediate Release: February 5, 2003
Contact:
Perrin Damon, DOC, (503) 945-0925
Dave Pastor SCCI, (541) 756-6666 ext. 225
Note to Editors:
Media wishing to attend should contact Julie Martin, (541) 756-6666 ext. 243 for access to the prison.
Prison Superintendent Makes Good on Challenge to Inmates: Eats Lunch on Prison Rooftop
On Friday, February 7, Interim Superintendent Dave Pastor of Shutter Creek Correctional Institution in North Bend will take the Oregon SUMMIT program to a new height when he makes good on a challenge to graduating inmates to change their lives.
A year ago, Mr. Pastor promised that, in honor of the first community with a 100 percent success rate on transitional leave, he would eat his lunch on top of the tallest building in the prison. It didn’t take long for the offenders to make him eat his words as well as his lunch: the 40 members of the 47th community have successfully completed transitional leave.
SUMMIT graduates consistently do well on transitional leave, though usually several inmates violate a rule and, because the program is very strict, they are returned to prison. To date, 46 inmate communities have completed the rigorous Oregon Summit Program, but until now no community had 100 percent of its members make it all the way through the 90 days of transitional leave that follows release from the minimum-security prison.
The Oregon SUMMIT Program is an alternative form of incarceration with the purpose of rehabilitating offenders, using a therapeutic community approach. SUMMIT is an acronym for “Success Using Motivation, Morale, Intensity, and Treatment.”
After successful completion of the six-month prison phase of the Oregon SUMMIT Program, inmates are closely monitored for an additional three months of transitional leave in their home communities. They are required to find self-sustaining employment within one month. They must follow an individually prescribed weekly schedule that may include attendance at several AA/NA meetings, anger management classes, cognitive change classes, and career development training. They must meet regularly with their assigned community corrections officer. Inmates who complete the SUMMIT Program and transitional leave may reduce their prison sentence by up to 30 months. Failure to follow through on the transitional leave requirements results in the inmate’s return to the custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections to complete the remainder of their original sentence.
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