Stronger Protections for Youth in Detention at NORCOR
Our 2017 investigative report, ‘Don’t Look Around’: A Window into Inhumane Conditions for Youth at NORCOR, uncovered that this facility was neglecting the mental health and social development of the kids who were detained there.
Our investigation resulted in:
A restructuring of the detention facility’s oversight and governance
The end of over-using lockdown time
Giving kids more visits with loved ones
Eliminating excessively punitive rules, such as forbidding kids from “looking around,” in favor of an evidence-based positive behavior management system
Advocating for oversight of juvenile detention facilities statewide
In Oregon, juvenile detention facilities lack meaningful oversight—no state or local agency is charged with enforcing safe, humane, and appropriate conditions for youth confined in jails. Other advocacy organizations, galvanized by their mutual concern about the findings of our NORCOR report, joined with us to urge the state to provide independent oversight of juvenile detention facilities.
In a joint letter to Governor Kate Brown, we recommended the state put in place and enforce standards for detention facilities that:
Shield youth from abuse
Provide access to healthcare and education
Identify and respond to behavior linked to past traumatic experiences that many youth have endured
In response to our advocacy, Governor Brown committed in March 2018 to scrutinize and improve detention facilities on a number of fronts.
Joint Advocacy Letter to Governor Kate Brown (February 27, 2018) (in Spanish)
Letter from Governor Kate Brown (March 1, 2018)
Press Release
Media Coverage
Advocates, ACLU push for independent oversight of juvenile jails (The Oregonian, January 30, 2019)
Report prompts changes at NORCOR jail (OPB’s Think Out Loud, December 8, 2017)
Oregon Youth Authority becomes 2nd agency to pull out of NORCOR (December 8, 2017)
Umatilla County will stop sending juvenile detainees to NORCOR until ‘complaints evaluated’ (December 8, 2017)
Wasco County stops sending children to NORCOR jail (OPB News, December 7, 2017)
Report: Juvenile detention center in The Dalles inhumane (AP, December 6, 2017)
Report describes 'psychologically harmful conditions' for kids at NORCOR juvenile detention center (OPB News, December 5, 2017)
Investigation of NORCOR juvenile jail finds children held in conditions “harsher and more restrictive” than adult jail (Willamette Week, December 5, 2017)