Members of an inmate work crew from Two Rivers Correctional Institution help clear flood-damaged material from a home at the Riverview Mobile Home Estates in Pendleton Feb, 12, 2020. Ten adults in custody at the state prison in Umatilla get to participate in an outing the morning of Aug, 20, 2021, at the Hermiston Splash Pad. The events are part of the Oregon Department of Corrections efforts to help inmates break cycles of criminal behavior.

UMATILLA — Ten inmates from the minimum security section of Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla are heading for a day in the sun outside prison walls.

The group gets to visit the Hermiston Splash Park for two hours the morning of Aug. 20, an event in partnership with the city of Hermiston, Hermiston Parks and Recreation and the Hermiston Police Department.

The outing is part of TRCI’s continual implementation of the Oregon Way, the Oregon Department of Correction’s program to help reintegrate inmates into society by having them spend time with their families beyond prison walls. The effort hopes to break what the state describes as a multi-generational criminal cycle.

“We do have offenders that have engaged in crimes and will not be released from prison because they’re not safe and the community isn’t safe,” said Mandy Perry, assistant superintendent at the prison. “But we have to understand that we have an even larger population that is going out into our communities. They’re becoming our neighbors. They’re becoming our baseball coaches. They’re going to reintegrate back into our society, and we would be failing if we didn’t provide opportunities to rehabilitate them and get them prepared for the community.”

In an email, Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston said, “I wouldn’t say we are a partner in/with this event TRCI is holding, but we are going to participate.”

He said the prison did not ask for his officers to provide security but “wanted to know if we could make an appearance since many children of inmates are hesitant to engage with police officers proactively and positively.”

“I am aware of the politics in play with this program and my intent was solely to engage the children in a positive atmosphere because law enforcement would love nothing more than to see crime cycles broken,” Edmiston said, adding that his department is lending a hand despite being down six officers. “For officers, there is nothing more disheartening in this profession than arresting the children of people who we deal with all the time.

The inmates who participate are carefully screened by officials to be those with exceptional behavior, Perry said. The prison also does “pretty intense intel” by listening to phone calls and reading letters between inmates and their families to “make sure they have established a positive and healthy relationship with their families,” Perry said.

They also are inmates who regularly go out into the community as work crews, pulling weeds, mowing lawns and helping set up for local rodeos.

“We, the city, we utilize TRCI for work crews fairly regularly,” said Mark Morgan, Hermiston’s assistant city manager. “We feel pretty confident and comfortable having used them in those capacities in the past, knowing the level of security detail that comes along with that, and with the professionalism that they run those things, that’s why we felt comfortable with” the splash park event.

For those work crews, one officer tags along, TRCI officials say. But for the upcoming programs, groups will be joined by a bigger group of counselors and law enforcement officers.

“This event is so everyone feels comfortable,” Perry said. “But what they don’t realize is that this event is also therapeutic and rehabilitative.”

Last month, inmates went fishing with their families at ponds near McNary Wildlife Nature Area. A group of local dentists donated the fishing poles, which children got to bring home with them. The Oregon State Police also attended the event and handed out free bracelets to kids.

“The positive interaction with police at that fishing event, the children, the care providers and the AICs, was phenomenal,” said Kaycie Thompson, a spokesperson for TRCI. “And if we keep doing that kind of thing, we’re going to help break the cycle of incarceration for these families.”

The event at the Hermiston Splash Park takes place 8:30-10:30 a.m., when the facility is not open to the public. The Hermiston Police Department is attending to handing out gift certificates for free Slurpees at 7-11.

Perry said it’s meant to be a therapeutic event for inmates and their families.

Thompson said this is an important opportunity to “get beyond the razor wire.”

“We’ve had AICs come up to us while we’re watching our grandchildren in our community and say, ‘Hey, I’m out and I’m staying out and I’m down here with my child,’” said Kaycie Thompson, a spokesperson for TRCI. “This is a transition.”

Perry said the prison has yet to plan any more events in the future because of the status of COVID-19 cases in the county, but said she hopes more will come.