Coffee Creek Correctional Facility is a women's

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

and prisoner intake center in

Wilsonville, Oregon Wilsonville is a city primarily in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A portion of the northern section of the city is in Washington County. It was founded as Boones Landing because of the Boones Ferry which crossed the Willamette River at ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Operated by the

Oregon Department of Corrections The Oregon Department of Corrections is the agency of the U.S. state of Oregon charged with managing a system of 12 state prisons since its creation by the state legislature in 1987. In addition to having custody of offenders sentenced to prison ...

, the 1,684-bed facility opened in 2001 at a campus. The selection of the location for the prison was controversial and included legal challenges. The minimum and medium security facility operates several programs designed to teach skills to inmates. Coffee Creek is the only women's prison in

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. Female state death row inmates in

are designated to be held in this facility.

History

Oregon needed to build a new women's prison and prisoner intake facility due to the increased demand for prison space created with the passage of Ballot Measure 11 in 1994 that imposed

mandatory minimum sentences Mandatory sentencing requires that offenders serve a predefined term for certain crimes, commonly serious and violent offenses. Judges are bound by law; these sentences are produced through the legislature, not the judicial system. They are inst ...

for certain crimes. The new prison was also designed to replace the 200-bed Oregon Women's Correctional Center in Salem.Gustafson, Alan. A minimum-security men's facility is planned. ''

Statesman Journal The ''Statesman Journal'' is the major daily newspaper published in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1851 as the ''Oregon Statesman'', it later merged with the ''Capital Journal'' to form the current newspaper, the second-oldest in Orego ...

'', April 22, 2000. Originally, the plan called for building the prison in Salem, but lawmakers and politicians there successfully pushed to build it elsewhere. State officials planned on building the prison at the site of the closed

Dammasch State Hospital Dammasch State Hospital was a mental hospital, asylum, and educational center located in Wilsonville, Oregon, United States. Named for Dr. Ferdinand H. Dammasch, the hospital opened in 1961 and closed in 1995. After its closure, the former site wa ...

in Wilsonville, but later selected a site at the north end of Wilsonville in Washington County.Tims, Dana. Prison site testimony blistering; Witnesses at a Wilsonville hearing label the state's process to select a site for a women's prison a sham. ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'', September 10, 1999. The process involved protracted battles over two legislative sessions and was settled when Oregon Governor

John Kitzhaber John Albert Kitzhaber (born March 5, 1947) is an American former politician who served as the 35th governor of Oregon from 1995 to 2003, and as the 37th governor of Oregon from 2011 until his resignation in 2015. A member of the Democratic Part ...

signed a bill into law. Groundbreaking on the complex was held on April 21, 2000.Tims, Dana. Building begins on new prison for women. ''

'', April 22, 2000. A final challenge to the location was rejected by the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.Villebois housing development. In October 2001, Coffee Creek's minimum security wing opened, followed by the medium security wing and inmate intake center in April 2002 at the $171 million complex. Delayed by three years due to the siting issue, the prison was officially dedicated in April 2002. The construction project was an honorable mention in 2002 as the top public project in Oregon by ''Northwest Construction'' magazine.Public Project: Honorable Mention -- Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. ''Northwest Construction'', December 2002, Oregon Best of 2002; Vol. 5, No. 12; Pg. 21. DLR Group designed the prison, and

Hoffman Construction Company Hoffman Construction Company is a privately held construction founded in 1922. It is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. It also has an office location in Seattle. With a revenue of US$1.4 billion in FY2017, Hoffman was the 4th largest privatel ...

built the facility. Within a year of opening, the inmate population reached 1,015. In August 2003, Coffee Creek had to install portable bathrooms for a day after mechanical problems prevented bathrooms from functioning properly.Bella, Rick. Plumbing problems disrupt prison. ''

'', August 15, 2003. From 2004 to 2006, several corrections officers were removed after accusations of sexual misconduct, with one victim reaching a settlement of $350,000 with the state. In 2006, an additional 108 beds were added to the prison, with plans to add about 200 more by the year 2011. Nancy Howton was named the superintendent of Coffee Creek in November 2007.

Facilities

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Built at a cost of $110 million, the 1,684-bed prison sits on and contains . Coffee Creek's prisoner intake facility process approximately 450 inmates per month.Liao, Ruth. Escape spurs review of inmate screening. ''

'', April 1, 2007. Incoming prisoners are screened and ranked based on factors such as behavior, age, health, criminal history, and psychological health while housed in the 432-bed intake center. Despite being a women's prison, the complex houses prisoners of both sexes. Coffee Creek is Oregon's only women's prison, and was originally built with 820 beds for female inmates. The intake process takes 30 days before male prisoners are assigned to other prisons in the state's system. Coffee Creek contains both minimum security and medium security units. Other units are used for intensive management, drug and alcohol rehab, psychiatric treatment, medical treatment, and disciplinary segregation. A total of 450 officers are assigned to Coffee Creek. Since the complex opened, the

has operated the Parenting Inside Out program designed to teach parenting skills to mothers behind bars. With nearly two-thirds of inmates also mothers, Coffee Creek runs several other programs focused on mothers and the children of inmates. One job program at the prison trains prisoners to refurbish reading glasses donated to the

Lions Club The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois, by Melvin Jones. It is now headquartere ...

, which are then given away in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The

Oregon Department of Transportation The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Depar ...

through its DMV division operates a call center inside the prison. The Coffee Creek Quilters is an inmate program that teaches

quilting Quilting is the term given to the process of joining a minimum of three layers of fabric together either through stitching manually using a needle and thread, or mechanically with a sewing machine or specialised longarm quilting system. ...

. They also have a garden used by inmates to raise crops. , the prison has a single cell for its death row.

Notable inmates

Notable criminals held at the facility include: *

Susan Monica Susan Monica (born July 8, 1948) is an American former sailor and convicted murderer. She garnered public attention after being convicted of murdering two men at her residence in rural Wimer, Oregon. Both of the victims had worked as handymen o ...

–

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and s ...

convicted of the murder of two men at her residence in rural

Wimer, Oregon Wimer is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 678. Wimer lies along Evans Creek north of the city of Rogue River. The community w ...

. *

Tucker Reed Aisling Tucker Moore-Reed (born October 15, 1989), known by her pen name Tucker Reed, is an American novelist and disgraced civil rights activist who has been found liable for defamation and who was convicted of manslaughter in May 2020. Reed c ...

– feminist author and activist convicted of the manslaughter of her uncle.

References

External links

DOC Operations Division: Prison Coffee Creek Correctional Facility
{{Authority control 2001 establishments in Oregon Buildings and structures in Wilsonville, Oregon Prisons in Oregon Women in Oregon Women's prisons in the United States Capital punishment in Oregon