The 'Trickle Down' Effect of Whistleblower Retaliation

Life hasn't been easy for Kimble since he testified for a guard who blew the whistle on racism in the Oregon State Prison.

The highly questionable conviction of Terrence Kimble becomes a side point when a reporter examines the tremendous levels of retaliation he faces on an ongoing basis as an Oregon inmate.

(SALEM, Ore.) - An inmate we have written about several times, Terrence Kimble, says he is continuing to receive serious harassment from prison officials who he believes are seriously abusing their power as prison officials.

Kimble's problems began after he testified in court for Whistleblower William Coleman, a former prison guard in Oregon who is also African-American. Coleman filed the whistleblower claim over a number of very serious racial Hate Crimes and Civil Rights violations inside the Oregon State Penitentiary.

When Coleman reported the crimes to prison officials, they retaliated by filing a bogus case against him for cigarette smuggling. Coleman, facing a 40-year prison sentence if convicted, took the case to court, much to the chagrin of Oregon's custom legal system, and was found not guilty by a unanimous jury. The only witness Coleman was allowed to call in his defense was Kimble. He still beat the state's case easily.

But life hasn't been good for Kimble ever since.

Immediately after throwing his support behind Coleman, Kimble was shipped to the Snake River Correctional Institute, known as "Cowboy Country" to both inmates and staff. It is located in eastern Oregon, near the Idaho border, and a much harder destination for family and friends of most inmates who wish to visit their loved ones.

We have reported the fact that communication between Coleman and Kimble and other inmates integral to Coleman's Whistleblower case is not being delivered, or mailed out of the prison in some cases. (see: Federal Mail Tampering at Oregon State Prison?)

Worst of all, a simple look at the case against Terrence Kimble causes any person familiar with basic Oregon law to question how he possibly could have been convicted of a crime even DNA cleared him of. Black suspects face a very difficult time in Oregon courts.

It appears that Oregon Corrections officials are doing everything in their power to keep these men from sharing information. Postal officials are not assisting with the matter at this point even though the matter has been brought to the attention of their investigators. Unfortunately they, "don't want to get involved" with the Oregon State Penitentiary.

The most recent "trouble" Kimble has been in centers around telephone conversations that utilize a speaker phone; something he has done for years, something suddenly viewed as a rule violation by prison officials. A Corrections Officer named Jim Patrick is who cited Kimble for the alleged 'three way calling' which by legal definition, involves more than two phone lines in a simultaneous conversation. A speaker phone being activated does not constitute this, but the rules do appear to change on the Oregon Dept. of Corrections depending on the situation.

Kimble had a hearing on 1 December 2010. The matter was moved ahead fifteen days and finally, on the 16th, Kimble received a copy of a phone bill from his family proving that it was not a three-way call. After this was presented, the case "was dismissed without prejudice".

Then, after he was cleared of this 'charge', Patrick turned around and simply refiled the same charge against him.

Kimble feels he is being retaliated against for testifying for Coleman in April 2010. The prison has taken Coleman off Kimble's call list along with Kimble's mother. This is an ongoing problem we have specifically covered in the past. (see: Oregon Political Prisoner Being Stripped of Phone Use)

With regard to the refiling of charges, the rule does state that an alleged rule violation dismissed without prejudice may be resubmitted in another misconduct report utilizing the same process as provided on OAR 291-105-0021(2)

William Coleman says he, "feels that the Oregon DOC is trying to break up the communications between myself and Kimble. I also believe that if the DOC has not violated the law, it would not retaliate against inmates for simply communicating with me."

Previous Installments in this series:
Nov-25-2010: Tim King and Ruth Kovacs on KBOO's Prison Pipeline (AUDIO) - Salem-News.com
Nov-22-2010: Tim King on KBOO FM's Prison Pipeline Tonight - Salem-News.com
Nov-16-2010: Federal Mail Tampering at Oregon State Prison? - Tim King Salem-News.com
Oct-29-2010 A Witness With No Credibility - Tim King Salem-News.com
Oct-27-2010: Inmate's Life Threatened by Staff at SRCI - Tim King Salem-News.com
Oct-21-2010: Oregon Inmate Stabbing Victim Attacked Second Time - Tim King Salem-News.com
Sep-10-2010: Demonstrators Call Oregon State Hospital's Employment Practices Racist, Unacceptable - Tim King Salem-News.com
Aug-28-2010: Observations on Michael Francke's Murder, Frank Gable's Conviction, & the paid Confession of 'Shorty' Harden - Salem-News.com
Aug-25-2010: Whistleblower Blues: Man in the Hole - Tim King Salem-News.com
Aug-11-2010: Demonstrators Protest Local Newspaper Over Racism - Tim King Salem-News.com
Aug-05-2010: Evidence Shows Oregon Inmate Was Falsely Convicted - Tim King Salem-News.com
Aug-03-2010: Chicken Night at the Oregon State Penitentiary - Tim King Salem-News.com
Jul-21-2010: Eyes on the Oregon State Prison: Voicing Concern for an Inmate's Life - Tim King Salem-News.com
Jul-14-2010: State Prison Whistleblower Says Oregon Corrections is Blocking Federal Mail - Tim King Salem-News.com
Jul-05-2010 : A Denial of Civil Rights- Oregon's Collaboration in Racism Whistleblower Retaliation - Tim King Salem-News.com
Jun-26-2010: Getting Refamiliarized with the Murder of Michael Francke - Tim King Salem-News.com
Jun-23-2010: Local Media Downplayed Former Prison Guard's Struggle Against Racism - Tim King Salem-News.com
Jun-18-2010: Exposé: Skeletons Falling Out of the Closet of Oregon Corrections - Tim King Salem-News.com
Jun-17-2010: Scott McAlister: Child Porn-Related Conviction and Practicing Law - Tim King Salem-News.com

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 65 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com