UO | SPD

Oregon Corrections Enterprises (OCE) operates training programs for Adults in Custody (AIC), housed within Oregon prisons. Their programs teach inmates marketable skills, including 3D CAD drafting, welding, furniture making, sewing and embroidery. In organized prison work programs, inmates are provided with job-specific skills and workplace habits, which they often lack pre-prison sentence (Solomon et. al., 2004). Work experience also benefits inmates emotionally and financially as wages earned from working allow prisoners to contribute to their families back at home. (Solomon et. al., 2004). The Oregon Department of Corrections, has one of lowest rates of recidivism in the country and rivals that of Norway’s Corrections system, which is considered to be one of the most effective in the world (OCE, 2019).

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OCE expressed to the University of Oregon’s Product Design Program that they needed help to update the design of their current products; many which have not been changed in decades. Some of the products produced through OCE include dormitory furniture, workwear, roadway/park signs, camping structures and governmental office furniture. As it pertains to workwear, OCE produces a denim apparel line called Prison Blues. It has been in production since the late 1980’s out of its’ Pendleton Oregon in a 47,000 square foot factory (OCE, 2019).