UMATILLA — A group of inmates who are part of the Paradigm Shift Club at Two Rivers Correctional Institution, Umatilla, recently gave back to the community.
UMATILLA — A club of men in custody at Two Rivers Correctional Institution, Umatilla, donated approximately 200 pounds of goods to Agape House in Hermiston.
The past few months have highlighted the strange relationship between Umatilla County and the Oregon Department of Corrections.
Specifically, the relationship between the 80,000 people living outside the walls of our two prisons and the 3,200 men who live inside Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla and Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton.
Like most people who live in Umatilla County, I have friends and acquaintances who work or have worked at the prisons. And, like most people, I donât personally know any of the men currently behind bars.
What I do know about life inside the prisons is second hand. From the perspective of employees and family members. From tours and information provided by administration. From
UMATILLA â Inmates at Two Rivers Correctional Institution, Umatilla, raised approximately $15,000 in donations for Agape House, a nonprofit food bank, and Marthaâs House, a transitional family shelter, in Hermiston.
The effort comes from a group of over a dozen adults in custody who call themselves the âParadigm Shift Club.â
The groupâs mission statement is âshifting societyâs view of AICs, shifting how AICs look at staff, the way staff look at AICs and trying to get everybody to work together for common causes,â according to James Cambell, a recreation specialist for Two Rivers Correctional Institution.
The fundraiser was meant to be a local effort to help institutions such as Marthaâs House, which often serves families with a loved one who is incarcerated and will occasionally provide discounted housing for formerly incarcerated individuals, Cambell said. The group raised $10,068.79 for the shelter.