Life in Portland, 2008

Click on any of the little pictures to see it at normal size. Click on the '=0=' after the picture to see it in giant size (about 2 minutes to download on dialup connection and larger than screen size). This could be useful if you wanted to really look at one part of the picture or to make a print.

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For the last several months, Cynthia and I have been visiting Sheridan F.C.I. (a federal prison) and O.S.P. (Oregon State Penitentiary) with the Prison Project teaching Siddha Yoga Meditation. Above are pictures from the highway of the F.C.I. Camp which is a low security prison. To cross the river you continue on the highway and then take an overpass to get to the entrance to the prison. This is a picture of the Federal Detention Center (F.D.C. or jail) which is on the right as you enter the prison grounds.	=0=
Further along the road past the detention center is the main prison or Federal Correctional Institute (F.C.I.). Above and here are pictures I took from the parking lot of the main facility with my cell phone (I hadn't brought my camera) as Cynthia was headed into the facility. There is lots of concertina wire along with the big fence.
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Above are two more pictures of the Camp which is on the left as you enter the prison grounds. The camp does not even have a fence. It is just dormitory and other buildings. After a couple of visits to F.C.I. I was able to go to a volunteer training at Sheridan and took some pictures (cameras and cell phones are 'contraband' in the prison). Here is a picture of the Training Center where I got my volunteer training. It was a smallish group with just myself and two volunteers from a local church. Serene is the volunteer coordinator at the facility (for religious programs). She ran our training along with a Lieutenant from the Correction Officer side of the organization. They each emphasized the importance of following the rules and how prisoners sometimes play games at getting volunteers to violate the rules and then ratchet up the favors they ask (and later demand).	=0=
Here is a picture taken from the parking lot of the main facility with my cell phone of what appears to be greenhouses. They would be just beyond the camp and I presume they are run my the prisoners in the camp. Below is a closer view of the F.D.C.. You can't really see it in these pictures, but those fences are your usual chain link fences with loads of concertina wire. I sure wouldn't want to mess with that. The facilities is in a most quiet and beautiful area with a sunset over hills and fields.
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