Oregon Prison Closure due to Budget Cuts

SALEM, Ore. — As the result of $2.5 million in budget cuts, the 176-bed minimum-security prison in Salem shut its doors in late October. The closure of the men’s facility has required 118 prisoners to be transferred to nearby Oregon State Penitentiary.

The cuts at the prison — which opened in 1964 as Oregon’s first women’s prison — has also resulted in more than 60 corrections department layoffs. The layoffs hinged on job security and a complex bumping process required by collective bargaining agreements that meant some employees, who received pink slips, were transferred to other prison facilities.