For the first 10 years of his prison sentence, Shane Goins stuffed his Size 16 triple-E ultra-wide feet into shoes that were too small for him. As a 6-foot-6, 300-pound man with flat feet, Goins has suffered from foot problems throughout adulthood. Since he came to prison, Goins has had three toe surgeries for ingrown nails. He said stuffing his foot into a smaller shoe worsened existing problems.
“My feet would get so sore it felt like walking on broken glass,” he told me in an interview during the summer.
At Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution, the commissary, or prison general store, only sells shoes up to a Size 15. To buy larger shoes from outside the commissary, Goins has to receive medical approval.
“I battled with medical for years,” he said, adding that he has filed eight grievances related to medical care during his time in prison.
While he lost many battles, he finally won the 10-year war in September 2024, when the medical department cleared him for shoes that fit his feet.
“I didn’t care about brand names or style,” he said. “I was all about size and comfort.”
What Goins experienced is not a one-off problem in Oregon prisons. For years, the state prison system has provided poor and often delayed medical care to its incarcerated population.
But over the last year, the head of Oregon’s prison system made significant personnel changes and agreed to implement changes. Three men I spoke with were hopeful for these changes, but after experiencing or witnessing years of poor medical care, they are still skeptical things will get better.
A systemic problem
In 2024, an outside investigation by an attorney found poor leadership of the Oregon Department of Corrections’ health care system. That poor leadership, in turn, contributed to deficient and often greatly delayed care for the incarcerated population.
The investigation quickly led to changes: In roughly the last year, 10 of 18 Oregon Department of Corrections health care officials have been placed on leave, resigned or fired. The most notable firings occurred on Feb. 3, when Dr. Warren Roberts, the division’s chief of medicine, and Joe Bugher, the assistant director of health services, were fired.
That same month, the state prison system contracted with Chicago-based prison health care consulting firm Falcon Correctional and Community Services to review the entire state prison system’s health care program.
The findings from Falcon’s nearly 190-page report were finalized this summer, and included input from 85 incarcerated people, 35 families of incarcerated people and more than 250 staff members.
In total, Falcon provided 67 findings and recommendations that include revising medical procedures, hiring more staff and restructuring processes.
In late July, when the report was released, prison system Director Michael Reese said the agency would implement the recommendations within the next 120 days with Falcon’s help.
‘Delay, deny, and ignore’
Ian Gilderson met with Falcon representatives when they visited our prison. Gilderson said he has generally had good experiences with medical care. But his experiences have been atypical, he said, likely because his parents work in the medical field and he feels comfortable persistently seeking medical care when he needs it.
“I’m willing to be annoying, so I get the care I need,” Gilderson said. “But with other people, I see them get ignored. That is the process with medical care — delay, deny and ignore.”
Gilderson said staffing is a major issue when it comes to health care, something outside investigations also cited. Our prison has been at a 25% staffing vacant rate in recent months.
“I’m hopeful things will change,” Gilderson said. “That health services will be more attentive.”
Jerry Shaw has experienced setbacks whenever he’s sought treatment for several medical conditions. In particular, it has become difficult for Shaw to open and close his right hand. He said it is a constant battle to get the care he needs.
“It’s keeping me from employment,” Shaw said. “I can’t hold a shovel or a floor buffer. I’m very limited on what jobs I can take.”
Shaw was receiving medical treatment, including weekly injections in his hand, but he said the nurse helping him left and the treatment stopped.
“I was receiving care that was helping, but because the staff changed I had to start over,” Shaw said. “They delay the care and cancel appointments.”
Shaw said he has filed a grievance against the state prison system. He was not aware that Falcon reps were at the prison to speak with people in March. I talked to several men who said they were not aware they visited our prison.
“I would have liked to talk with them,” Shaw said. “I’m in constant pain.”
A costly problem
The state’s budget for prison health care is about $496 million per two-year budget cycle. For the more than 12,000 incarcerated Oregonians, the average health care cost is over $20,000 per year, per person.
But these men said they have not seen $20,000 a year reflected in their medical care.
The cost of care includes the necessary daily operations at each facility, but Gilderson said that some medical treatments would cost significantly less than the millions of dollars the state has paid out for lawsuits related to medical care. Last year, they had to pay out a $3.5 million settlement because a nurse misidentified one man’s heart attack as gas.
The state also had to pay out about $100,000 per month to seven doctors who were placed on paid leave because of investigations, according to The Oregonian. And on top of that, the Oregon Department of Corrections paid Falcon $550,000 for their work, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
A graying population
One factor that complicates health care is Oregon’s aging prison population. Falcon reported that Oregon’s prison population has decreased 17.3% since 2015, but that the number of people ages 61 and older in prison has increased 41%.
The graying of prisons is a national trend, but Falcon said in its report that the “rapid increase of the geriatric population in Oregon is unique.”
Over the past few years, Goins said he has developed several age-related health problems. He is concerned about the availability of care as he grows older.
“We’re not getting any younger,” Goins said, “and we’re not going anywhere.”
