Jamie Miller recently walked out to his truck on one of his last days as superintendent of Snake River Correctional Institution outside Ontario.
A correctional officer who had worked with him for 20 years stopped him to chat.
The man wanted to congratulate Miller on his promotion. He’s been named eastside institutions administrator for the Oregon Department of Corrections.
“I’m really happy for you,” the employee said, and he thanked him for his work at the prison.
Miller’s been getting lots of encouragement as word spread through Oregon’s largest prison about the change, effective on Jan. 20.
Miller, in one way, isn’t going anywhere. Though his duty covers a huge swath of eastern Oregon, the Ontario prison will be his base. He has spent his 29 years with the Corrections Department at Snake River, starting in 1996 as a correctional officer.
His new duty makes him responsible for overseeing not only Snake River but operations at Powder River Correctional Facility in Baker City, Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla, Deer Ridge Correctional Institution in Madras and Warner Creek Correctional Facility in Lakeview.
He said he was considering retirement when he was urged to apply for the promotion.

Miller, who grew up in Ontario, said he wants to carry to the other institutions lessons he’s learned at Snake River.
“I felt that I could be that coach, be that mentor for other superintendents,” Miller said.
Miller didn’t anticipate a career in corrections.
He spent 10 years as a reserve for the Payette County Sheriff’s Department and the Fruitland Police Department. He thought the prison job was a temporary detour from a career as a police officer.
“I found the work very rewarding and I decided I was sticking with corrections,” Miller said.
He worked way through the ranks, taking over as superintendent in 2021.
Miller said he has seen improvements in corrections, both in the care taken of employees and shifts in attitudes towards inmates, referred to by the agency as adults in custody.
A big push for the agency and executives at Snake River has been staff wellness.
“Things have changed immensely at Snake River,” he said.
He said that historically across the country the life expectancy of corrections workers was relatively low, and they faced high rates of divorce and alcoholism.
Wellness programs in Oregon have been implemented to help workers face challenges at work and in their personal lives.
Miller said Snake River has an active wellness committee, representing all areas of prison operations, to consider employee needs. The prison brings in outside resources, from financial planners to retirement experts.
An annual wellness fair brings in up to 35 vendors providing workers information on a range of topics.
A crisis intervention team provides peer support.
“Anytime we have a staff issue, we deploy them,” Miller said. “They are good cross section of folks, very empathetic.”
He said the prison instituted an End of Watch Memorial Walk, honoring employees who died in the previous year. The third annual event in October included a choir performance and the prison’s own honor guard recognizing 54 people who had passed.
Snake River also created its own “challenge coin,” awarded to employees for excellence. The coins are presented typically during all-staff events.
Miller gets reports on employees who have taken medical or family leave, the reason not disclosed to him. He started a practice of handwriting an encouraging note he sends to an employee.
The gesture “had a huge impact on folks,” Miller said.
He also has watched relations improve between managers and staff represented by labor unions. Now, Snake River is fully staffed and a second generation of employees, from sons and daughters to nieces and nephews, are taking jobs.
“It’s a good measurement of the health of the institution,” Miller said.
He has seen a change in how adults in custody are managed.
“When I first started, it was an us-against-them mentality – they get what they got coming, no more, no less,” Miller said.
Now, Snake River works to help those in custody serve their time and get ready for returning to the community.
“The punishment is to come to prison,” Miller said. “They are not coming to prison to be punished.”
Those in custody now are rewarded for good behavior. Snake River on occasion brings out food trucks, for instance.
There has been a decreased use of force, Miller said, though Snake River still is holding some of the most challenging adults in the state system. He said the high prevalence of mental illness adds to the challenge.
Miller said the corrections agency also is more deliberate about connecting with citizens and the community. He said people often have skewed visions of state prisons, perceptions changed by tours and events at Snake such as the annual senior meal at Christmas.
Miller is a regular fixture at community meetings and has served on the boards of the Treasure Valley Children’s Relief Nursery and the Saint Alphonsus Medical Center Foundation in Ontario.
He’s proud that Snake River is viewed within the profession as a place to go to learn. The prison has hosted tours for top officials from the Federal Bureau of Prisons and other state corrections agencies.
The Oregon agency will soon open recruiting for Miller’s successor as superintendent.
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