Earlier this week, I chose to watch an ESPN documentary on Netflix. “The Price of Gold” is a retelling of the 1994 Nancy Kerrigan/ Tonya Harding knee bashing incident prior to the 1994 Winter Olympics. While the program presented a fairly balanced perspective, it did however favor Harding’s point of view to the detriment of her ex-husband and alleged mastermind of the plot to bash Kerrigan, Jeff Gillooly (aka Jeff Stone).
In the fall of 1994, I was employed by Southwestern Oregon Community College (SOCC) as an academic life skills teacher assigned to Shutter Creek Correctional Institution (SCCI) near Coos Bay, Oregon. Specifically, my duties included preparing inmates enrolled in the Oregon SUMMIT Program for taking the GED. I delivered instruction to inmates who had volunteered to possibly have their sentences reduced by participating in a military boot camp program that emphasized the words in the acronym Success Using Motivation Morale, Intensity, and Treatment. You can read all about it at – http://www.oregon.gov/DOC/OPS/PRISON/Pages/scci_summit_program.aspx
Jeff Gillooly had volunteered for the third platoon of inmates. The SUMMIT system typically allowed around 80 inmates from SCCI and from various other Oregon correctional facilities to arrive en masse by bus for “military” processing by Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) officers who had been specially trained and experienced in military procedures.
My own team from the local community college was usually present for processing paperwork related to the academic classes the inmates were required to take in the SUMMIT program. We usually stood by and watched while the inmates had their heads and faces shaved bald so that no “special” characteristics of personality could be discerned. As we observed the shaved heads, one feature began to stand out.
We first noticed old suture marks related to traumatic head injuries. Then, we started to notice the remarkable number of head injuries. Finally, we started to note the relative locations of the head injuries on each head.
Since that time, I have come to the conclusion that, as a nation, we are systematically incarcerating an entire class of people – men with head injuries. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has certainly come to the forefront of national concern after two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have produced so many tragic examples. We are even currently concerned about the incidence of TBI that occurs in sports. In short, we seem to becoming more aware of TBI as a valid disability.
While I do not even recall whether Jeff Gillooly was an inmate with TBI, I do recall the progress he seemed to make while engaged in the SUMMIT program.
I began each of my classes with the usual military discipline model – commands instructing the class on each movement they made in class. Then, after signing off on any “learning experience” any of the “troops” may have had (each inmate was evaluated each day by at least five different staff members, and inmates who failed an evaluation might be assigned a “learning” experience related to that inmate’s error(s)), I used an overhead projector with a slide containing pictures, quotes and phrases related to both the SUMMIT program content and to GED preparation.
In one of my earliest encounters with Mr. Gillooly, I had projected for his class the quote, “Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.” I asked the class to discuss what the meaning of this quote might be.
The general consensus of the class was it meant that to contend with such a person might tend to drag one down to the level of that other person.
Mr. Gillooly in a very serious manner, volunteered his idea on the matter, “Sir, this inmate feels that he should not contend with a man who has nothing to lose because that man has nothing that this inmate could win from him.”
Gillooly’s response demonstrated a classic criminal thinking pattern as defined by SUMMIT standards – manipulative and selfish; the answer of an egoist.
Mr. Gillooly however, made significant progress in the program. When he was in the computer lab, I watched him over a period of time as he taught another inmate how to read. He had no guarantee of an early release, and the typical SUMMIT “graduate” saw at least 50 per cent of the original volunteers fail the program and head back to regular prison.
In my humble opinion, the Oregon DOC made one error in judgment where Mr. Gillooly (Stone) was concerned. On the day of graduation, and in light on the intense interest in his incarceration, the DOC allowed every major television network to set up broadcast trucks at SCCI to cover the event.
And speaking of trucks, the DOC even allowed Jeff Gillooly (Stone) to drive away from prison in a new pickup truck with a beautiful blond on the front seat next to him. That was quite a message to send to other inmates, but perhaps not the appropriate one.
Where the continuing saga of Jeff and Tonya and Nancy is concerned, the ESPN documentary concluded with Tonya reaffirming her position that she knew nothing of the knee bashing before it took place. Her best friend and former fellow skating student was also interviewed throughout the piece and concluded with her opinion that Tonya knew everything from the beginning.
All we have heard from Jeff Gillooly publicly was his appearance on the Fox show “Lie Detector” nearly a decade ago. The “results” of the lie detector test agreed with Tonya’s friend’s conclusion – Tonya was involved.
Finally, in deciding which inmates successfully completed the SUMMIT Program and received early release, the entire SCCI staff voted. The primary standard upon which our votes were based was this – would you, as a pro-social member of society, want this now-reformed inmate to move into the house next door to your own?
We all agreed that Jeff Gillooly (Stone), in his state of being that we had evaluated during his treatment in the SUMMIT program, was fit to move into the house next door to our own.
Since that time, the SUMMIT Program has been closed. During its existence, it graduated 115 platoons of inmates.
Footnote from the SUMMIT Internet site –
“Effective July, 2012, the SUMMIT Program at SCCI will be closing, and a new Alternative Incarceration Program will be starting at Columbia River Correctional Institution. The following lists the scheduled completion dates for inmates in the AIP SUMMIT Program. Those inmates still in the AIP SUMMIT Program after July 10, 2012, will be transferred to CRCI to finish the remainder of their program.”
| Community |
Arrival Date |
Institution Graduation Date |
| 112 |
10/06/2011 |
04/17/2012 |
| 113 |
11/03/2011 |
05/15/2012 |
| 114 |
12/01/2011 |
06/12/2012 |
| 115 |
12/29/2011 |
07/10/2012 |
| 116 |
01/26/2012 |
At CRCI |
| 117 |
02/23/2012 |
At CRCI |
| 118 |
03/22/2012 |
At CRCI |
Read more about Jeff Gillooly Stone at – http://deadspin.com/finding-gillooly-what-happened-to-figure-skatings-inf-1482669790
The photo posted with this blog is the property of deadspin.com
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