My oral testimony to the joint committee on public safety

Last Friday, Legislators in Salem have proposed closing the Shutter Creek Correctional Facility as part of the budget cut discussions. I testified in opposition to the plan to close the Shutter Creek Facility. See my testimony below:

Co-chair Janeen Sollman and Co-chair James Manning and committee members, thank you for allowing me to speak on behalf of Shutter Creek Correctional Facility, and the communities of Lakeside, Reedsport, Coos Bay, North Bend and Florence that will be adversely affected with the proposed closure of Shutter Creek. My name is Boomer Wright and I live in Reedsport, in Douglas County just 10 miles from Lakeside which is home to the economically important and highly successful Shutter Creek Facility.

Shutter Creek is the regional re-entry facility for the counties of Coos, Curry, Douglas, Lane, Jackson and Josephine. Minimum custody inmates who are nearing the end of their sentence are typically transferred to Shutter Creek to participate in reentry programs and are typically released into one of these six counties. Shutter Creek and it’s skilled and talented employees make a positive difference in the lives of these inmates and help them re-enter regular life with learned skills and education necessary to help them be successful in society.

According to employees of Shutter Creek, over 100 family-wage jobs and many indirectly connected local businesses are threatened by potential revenue reduction.  The closure would decrease revenue in neighboring counties and cities as well.  Lakeside alone would likely lose a quarter of a million dollars in sewer fees a year. The loss to Lakeside, a community of 1,700 individuals, and the extended communities of over three million dollars in wage revenue annually, would be beyond devastation. The remaining fiscal burden would then be passed along to the local residents, mostly make up of retired families already adversely affected by the Covid closures and on fixed incomes. They can ill afford increased fees and any proposed new taxation.

The closure of Shutter Creek would only increase some of the highest unemployment rates in Oregon which are close to 18% on the south coast. The south coast has been slowly working its way back economically from the devastation caused by the closure of most of our local mills which were the lifeblood of our communities and family wage jobs. The south coast and its hard-working Oregonians need industry growth and job creation not closures and lost revenue. I implore you to remove Shutter Creek Correctional Facility from the list of major budget changes and preserve the unique services it provides to the inmates, employees, local communities, and all of Oregon.

Thank you for listening, and my God bless and give you the strength, knowledge, and wisdom to make the tough decisions that lay a head of you.  Thank you!