PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) – An advocate for prison reform will be visiting Central Oregon in coming days to meet with officials and local groups to talk about the impact of the justice system and prisons on Oregon communities.

Kyle Black will be sharing what she has learned as someone who was incarcerated for 26 years within our state’s prison system. As a Policy Associate with the Oregon Justice Resource Center (OJRC), a nonprofit law firm that serves incarcerated clients around Oregon and advocates for reform, Black brings her lived experience and professional expertise to the conversation around prisons and the justice system.

Oregon taxpayers are funding the state prison system to the tune of more than $1 billion a year, with millions more spent on courts, prosecution, defense, and policing.

At any given time, around 22,000 Oregonians are in some form of incarceration, be it a prison, jail, the Oregon State Hospital, a youth detention facility, or a federal prison.

Since the late 1970s, Oregon’s prison incarceration rate has grown from a little over 100 people in prison per 100,000 of population, to nearly 400.

The high cost of Oregon’s criminal legal and punishment systems and the number of families impacted by the system should be a cause for reflection by our communities about whether this is serving all our interests.

“As someone who’s spent years locked up, I’ve seen firsthand how incarceration doesn’t always achieve the rehabilitative goals that will help prevent future offending,” Black said. “There are many different views that we all hold about prisons and the legal system and what they’re getting wrong, but I hope we can all agree with the need to challenge systems that aren’t working to prevent harm to our families and communities.”

To inform her work with OJRC, Black is on the road this fall with a colleague, Kyle Hedquist, who is also a Policy Associate with the organization. Black and Hedquist are touring the state to visit towns and cities all over Oregon to talk to elected officials, civic leaders, students, and community groups about criminal justice. Their goal is to build connections and learn more about the impact on local communities of prisons and jails.

“I don’t expect everyone to agree with OJRC about the changes that need to be made in our prisons,” said Black. “But I do believe that we can find common ground on the basics: we all want to be happy, healthy, and safe. I want people to reach out if they’re interested in dialogue about these issues and I’m ready to talk.”

In recent months, Kyle Black and Kyle Hedquist have been representing OJRC at the Legislature during the legislative session as advocates for prison reform. Their work has had such an impact that they were featured by The Oregonian this spring in an article on their unusual transition from prison to policymaking. With the next legislative session on the horizon in early 2024, Black and Hedquist will be taking inspiration from their engagement with Oregonians around the state to inform their work at the Capitol.

While in Central Oregon, Kyle Black will be visiting Prineville, Redmond, Bend, and Sisters on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 3-4.

The Oregon Justice Resource Center is a nonprofit law firm founded in 2011 serving clients around the state with free criminal, immigration, and civil rights legal services. The goal is to promote civil rights and improve legal representation for communities that have often been underserved in the past: people living in poverty and BIPOC among them. OJRC works in collaboration with like-minded organizations to maximize our reach to serve underrepresented populations, to train future public interest lawyers, and to educate our community on issues related to civil rights and civil liberties.

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STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Finding motivation last week couldn’t have been easier for Oregon after all the pregame trash talking, logo stomping and hype that fueled the Ducks’ showdown against Colorado.

The ninth-ranked Ducks (4-0, 1-0 Pac-12) used that to roll to a decisive victory over the Buffaloes but know they will need to dig deeper when they visit struggling Stanford (1-3, 0-2) in a considerably lower-profile game on Saturday.

“This is a bring-your-own juice game,” coach Dan Lanning said. “It’s going to be a different atmosphere. But if you step on the grass and it means something to you, you’re going to step on there and try to perform to a certain level because you have pride in the game.”

Oregon doesn’t have to look back too far to find out what can happen if intensity is lacking in any way. Two years ago, the Ducks came to Stanford with a 4-0 record and a No. 3 national ranking to face an unranked team off to a sluggish start and lost 31-24.

Lanning wasn’t the coach at the time but he reiterated that sentiment this week and also pointed to Oregon’s first road game of the season when the Ducks came out flat and struggled in a 38-30 win at Texas Tech.

“It’s no secret and our guys know that right? You certainly point it out,” he said.” There’s a lot of pieces that can feed into distractions and not playing to your best. And like I said, all you have to do is point to this season, when we went down to Texas Tech we didn’t feel like we performed our best. So we’re going on the road and it’s an opportunity for us to prove that we can.”

This game starts a tough stretch for the Cardinal, who face seven teams that have been ranked at some point this season in their final eight games.

POTENT PASSER

Ducks quarterback Bo Nix is off to a sizzling start this season. He completed his first 11 passes last week against Colorado and is second in the nation completing 79.4% on the season.

Nix has thrown 11 TDs and run for one, while throwing only one INT. Nix is responsible for 56 career TDs passing and rushing at Oregon after having 57 at Auburn. He’s the first player with at least 55 at multiple schools in FBS history.

“Bo’s done everything he possibly can to be a great teammate, a great player for Oregon and he shows that every single day in the way he approaches everything that he does,” Lanning said.

QB SHUFFLE

The Cardinal have much more uncertainty at quarterback, shuffling between Ashton Daniels and Justin Lamson. Daniels started the first three games with Lamson mixing in in losses against Southern California and Sacramento State. The roles reversed last week in a loss to Arizona, when Lamson was used as the runner and Daniels replaced him in passing situations.

“Until somebody emerges, I’ll probably play both of them,” coach Troy Taylor said.

REPLACEMENT RUNNER

The Ducks will need to find a replacement for key running back Noah Whittington, who injured his left leg last week and will be unavailable. Whittington was averaging 7.3 yards per carry as the backup to Bucky Irving. Jordan James has already been part of the rotation and leads the team with six TD runs. Freshmen Jayden Limar and Dante Dowdell also could get a bigger opportunity this week.

“We’re going to miss Noah,” Lanning said. “You don’t just replacing Noah with a player and especially his demeanor and his work ethic. But we’ve got some great backs in that room that are ready to fill those shoes.”

JUST FOR KICKS

Stanford kicker Joshua Karty’s impressive streak finally came to an end last week. Karty had made all 18 field goal attempts last season and his first eight this season before his streak of 26 in a row was snapped. Karty missed a pair of 51-yarders last week against Arizona.

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AP Sports Writer Anne M. Peterson contributed to this report

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll