Women’s Justice Project

 

The Women’s Justice Project is the first and only program in Oregon to exclusively address issues related to women in Oregon’s criminal legal system.

For nearly ten years, our staff have been providing direct legal services and other supports to people incarcerated in Coffee Creek Correctional Facility (CCCF), Oregon’s only women’s prison. We understand well the experiences of women in Oregon’s criminal legal system, from arrest through to reentry. Women’s pathways to prison are complex, often involving complicated histories of abuse, trauma, and numerous other hardships. Through their experiences we see how Oregon’s criminal legal system does not address these complex root causes of criminalized behavior, and instead excessively sentences women, imposing unnecessary and harmful consequences on them and in turn on their children and families. Women’s experiences reveal the undeniable truth that Oregon’s criminal legal system is focused on punishment and family regulation and promotes intergenerational harm.

The Women’s Justice Project advocates for more just and humane treatment of women in the criminal legal system. While we address various issues impacting women who are incarcerated in CCCF, our efforts are primarily focused on the areas listed below. In pursuit of our efforts, we continue to document and track women’s experiences, develop creative litigation opportunities, advocate for policy change, provide public education and raise public awareness through campaigns.

Re*Membering: Legal services for incarcerated people

We provide civil legal services to people incarcerated in CCCF, with funding partially provided by the state legislature. We help clients address various non-criminal legal issues that are burdens while incarcerated and will likely become greater hardships in their life after prison. The range of legal issues are diverse and complex, e.g., family-related, debt/financial concerns, employment-related, ID/driver’s license, and property-related.

We also advocate for increased access to the courts for all incarcerated people.

Comments from Re*Membering Clients:

[You] gave me a place to come home to — literally. [You] saved my home. It’s a huge benefit to not have to go to transitional housing.

Without this program, I would have been lost, and I probably wouldn’t have seen my children because of my lack of knowledge.

As women, inmates, humans, we constantly feel degraded, dehumanized and unworthy. There were many times when I felt almost speechless because you helped me more than I asked for and I didn’t feel like I deserved such generosity and kindness.

The name of this program was inspired by remarks made by CCCF Chaplain, Rev. Dr. Emily Brault, at our Women in Prison Conference:

“One of the images I use that helps me practice Love is the experience of remembering.  I don’t mean remembering as in terms of nostalgic reminiscences of the past, … but re-membering as in returning people to membership, or bringing people into community, or something we do with our hearts and our guts.  People in prison are often a forgotten people. …When I remember people, when I build relationship and community with them, I am acknowledging the actuality of their life, and affirming the worth and dignity of their existence. …One of the side-effects of remembering is that when we bring people into community, we are changed.” – Rev. Dr. Emily Brault

Humane treatment of incarcerated women

Survivor-Defendants: Just and humane treatment for criminalized survivors of domestic violence

Resources

REPORTS

HerStory Oregon Survey Results Reports
In 2017 and 2018, we and Portland State University’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, with the cooperation of CCCF, surveyed over 140 women incarcerated in CCCF about their experiences through the criminal process – from arrest to sentencing, from intake in CCCF to their thoughts about their future release from prison. The purpose of the Survey was to hear directly from women and identify problematic trends in their treatment in Oregon’s criminal legal system. The intent is to use this information to highlight for decision-makers and the community needs for a fairer and more just criminal legal system. The results of the survey are being shared through a series of reports.
Mental Health, Physical Health and Substance Use (September 2019)
Intimate Partner Violence and Trauma (February 2019)

Unlocking Measure 57 (Updated May 2018)
This report walks through the history of sentencing laws as it relates to the repeat property offender laws and Measure 57, which created a mandatory minimum sentencing scheme for repeat property offenses. Repealing Measure 57 is just and fair and the surest and swiftest way to make a significant impact on the ever-growing number of women in CCCF.

An Alternative to Women’s Prison Expansion in Oregon (September 2016)
In response to the overcrowding at Oregon's only women's prison and the legislature's discussions to release emergency funds to open a second women's prison, this report suggests immediate solutions to reduce the number of women incarcerated in prison in Oregon.

Women in Prison in Oregon (September 2016)
This report compiles publicly available information about women in CCCF into one resource.

GUIDES FOR INCARCERATED PEOPLE IN OREGON

A Guide to Preparing for Your Murder Review Hearing (In collaboration with the OJRC’s Youth Justice Project) (June 2019)

If You Have an ICE Detainer: Practical Tips for Preparing to Transfer from State Prison to the Northwest Detention Center (In collaboration with the OJRC’s Immigrant Rights Project) (August 2019)

Si tiene una orden de detención de inmigración (ICE): Sugerencias prácticas para su transición de la prisión estatal al centro de detención Northwest Detention Center (Agosto 2019)

Women in Prison Conference

Our annual Women in Prison Conference took place in Portland from 2014 to 2019. The conference presentations aimed to demystify legal aspects of the criminal system, address common misconceptions, amplify the voices of women impacted by criminal legal system policies, and explore avenues for reform. Each year, the conference included a panel of women from CCCF to share their expereinces in the criminal legal system. This event consistently sold out over the years. Our attendees were social service providers, corrections and community corrections staff, lawyers, formerly incarcerated people, state and local decision-makers, and other community members. More information about the conference.

Women in Prison Conference 2019: Justice for Survivor-Defendants (November 2019)

Women in Prison Conference 2018: Women and Measure 11 (November 2018)

2018 Conference Keynote address: Navigating and Transcending the Gravitational Pull of Privilege and Structural Bias to Work for Justice Inside the Legal System by The Honorable Darleen Ortega

Staff

Founding Project Director and Attorney
Julia Yoshimoto, MSW, JD
[email protected]
503-944-2270 x210

Staff Attorney
Sarah Bieri, JD
[email protected]
503-944-2270 x202

Staff Attorney
Alex Coven, JD
[email protected]
503-944-2270 x215