Oregon’s largest juvenile justice center is plagued by “cascading failures,” according to a Marion County grand jury report released on Monday.

The report scrutinizes the conditions at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn.

Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson called for the grand jury inquiry into the conditions at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in June.

At the time, Clarkson said she had “grown increasingly concerned regarding the safety of youth placed at MacLaren.”

Over the course of about six months, the grand jury toured the grounds, reviewed hundreds of pages of documents and spoke with approximately 30 witnesses, including Oregon Youth Authority employees and Oregon State Police officers.

Jurors titled their report, released on Monday, “Cascading Failures.”

It describes issues with contraband at the facility that, in one example, aided in the youth’s escape from the locked facility. It also details problems with high staff turnover, burnout, growing gang activity and more intense mental health needs of the youth in custody.

The Oregon Youth Authority is the agency that oversees the state’s juvenile justice system.

It operates five youth correctional facilities and four transitional facilities, including MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn. MacLaren currently has a population of about 150 youth. The governor fired the head of the Oregon Youth Authority in March.

Will Howell, a spokesman for the Oregon Youth Authority, said the agency “embraces transparency as the cornerstone of public confidence.”

“The report confirms our internal assessments, and the public can have full confidence that work is well underway to address the concerns within OYA’s control and budget,” Howell wrote in an email.

Here is a look at some of the grand jury’s findings:

• MacLaren is trying to fill too many roles. It’s supposed to be a rehabilitation center for some people as young as 12. But it is also a correctional facility for younger people who are legal adults – people who committed violent crimes and are as old as 25. Although it is not a mental health facility, an increasing number of the youth have significant mental health needs.

• Staffing is a huge problem. Staff are frequently assaulted, staff burnout and turnover are high, and many staff do not have proper training to de-escalate and care for the ever-increasingly complex needs of the kids and young adults in their care. Staffing problems influence nearly every other issue in the facility.

• Youth conduct and behavioral patterns have changed. Changes in sentencing structures made by the 2019 Legislature have resulted in fewer youth serving lengthier sentences. Staff said they often had a “stabilizing force.” “Recently admitted youth tend to have lengthier juvenile offending history with greater programming needs (substance and mental health treatment, gang-related risks, assaultive behavior, etc.), and more volatile behavior,” the report reads. “Overall, the grand jury determined that this change in population dynamics has led to a facility with a more volatile and potentially dangerous population.”

• There are serious issues with contraband, including weapons, cell phones, drugs and money. In 2021, three young men escaped MacLaren using a metal shank and a cell phone. They attacked the staffer on duty and escaped through a hole in the fence by coordinating with someone on the outside to pick them up.

• Gang activity needs to be addressed. “Youth who enter the facility without a gang will at some point become involved in gang activity,” the report reads. Yet, there is a lack of training on how to deal with gang-related activity nor proper treatment programs for kids who are in gangs.

• Sexual assault and misconduct are ever-present concerns, with staff sexually abusing youth being the most damaging and concerning. The grand jury learned of both allegations of historical sexual abuse and instances of more recent abuse.

“The issue of sexual abuse in a closed custody facility is expansive in scope and complexity,” the report reads. “It needs further and deeper investigation than this grand jury can meaningfully address. However, to ensure the safety of youth in MacLaren, allegations of sexual abuse must be promptly and thoroughly investigated and resolved in a timely manner.”

The grand jury suggested the facility receive additional money from the Legislature to hire a consulting firm to create a new training program for MacLaren staff, hire dedicated security staff positions and take greater efforts to reduce contraband, such as using body scanners. I

The grand jury also suggested an independent audit to look at how the facility rehabilitation programs are working and an Oregon Secretary of State audit to focus on MacLaren’s performance and operations. Lastly, it suggested how to reduce costs to taxpayers and increase public accountability.

This story may be updated.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/12/22/oregons-largest-juvenile-justice-facility-has-system-wide-failures/