IN TONI’S OWN WORDS:
I am happy to have the opportunity to serve on the CURE board. In recent months I’ve been on the fast track in learning about the corrections system in Oregon. Before my son went to prison, I had no idea how many perceptions I had about the correction system were not just wrong, but so simplistic. It is not at all like the TV shows. Almost as shocking was the lack of information my friends and I had about the DOC. So, like many families in my situation, I started looking for ways to educate myself about the system and get involved. I wanted to join a group whose mission is to help incarcerated individuals and their families. I wanted to work on access to education and communication between prisoners and family. Education has been shown to help individuals reintegrate when they are released and having a close relationship with family to support them helps them not to reoffend. I am a retired educator; I taught for 32 years. My students ranged from Kindergarten to University. I believe that education is the great equalizer. In this country, public education is available to all students. Whenever there is a barrier to
public education, we must remove that barrier. I came to CURE because there is a barrier to access public
education for most incarcerated people in Oregon prisons. I want to work on helping to provide that access. CURE has provided a way to partner with individuals and institutions to work on this problem. Another problem in prisons is lack of access to communication, specifically the ability to make phone calls. The Department of Corrections states clearly that incarcerated people need to stay connected to family and friends. But this is not always the case. For example, the largest prison population in Oregon is housed at Snake River Correctional Institution. Physical access from the major urban centers is a 12 hour round trip drive or a $500+ round trip flight to Boise and car rental to get to Snake River. There is no train or bus service. This makes having access to phones and video stations extremely important. Yet for various reasons, phones are not easily available to all AIC’s. These problems of access require a long-term commitment to make change. CURE is committed to working to make real change no matter how long it takes. As part of this group, I am learning to be patient yet persistent. It is a great pleasure to be part of the changemaker that is CURE.