Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson has convened a grand jury to review conditions and management of Oregon’s largest juvenile correctional facility following over 100 investigations of sexual assault, escapes and other possible criminal conduct.

Clarkson’s office announced the joint inquiry into the embattled MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn on Monday. She said her office would work with a senior attorney from the Oregon Department of Justice due to the volume of cases to review.

MacLaren has faced dozens of lawsuits in recent months alleging sexual abuse abuse by staff. The facility is run by the Oregon Youth Authority, the state’s juvenile justice agency.

Gov. Tina Kotek in March fired the youth authority’s director, Joe O’Leary, after a state investigation found that the agency mishandled thousands of abuse complaints, according to reporting from the Oregonian/OregonLive.

“I have grown increasingly concerned regarding the safety of youth placed at MacLaren.  Communities around this state rely on OYA to rehabilitate youth who have committed offenses that judges find justify detention,” Clarkson said in a news release Monday afternoon. “Unfortunately, the more we learn regarding what occurred under OYA’s former leadership, the more that I believe that I should use every tool I have to ensure that both youth and the staff who serve them are safe.”

Oregon law requires that grand juries inquire into conditions and management at every correctional facility once a year. Such reviews are typically routine bureaucratic affairs and rarely garner much public attention.

But MacLaren in recent years has been plagued by repeated scandals including a counselor having sex with a young adult in custody, three teens escaping and drugs being smuggled into the facility.

Will Howell, spokesman for the youth authority, said Monday evening that the agency will “promptly and thoroughly” respond to any requests by Clarkson’s office.

“Public trust and confidence are critical to our success, so we are grateful that Marion County is using its annual oversight process in this way,” Howell said in an email. “We intend to be nothing but open and transparent.”

Clarkson said her office over the last year has received over 100 investigations of potential criminal conduct at MacLaren, including sexual assaults, escapes, “contraband possession,” riots and physical assaults on youth and staff. That doesn’t include investigations by prosecutors in other counties or incidents that didn’t “rise to criminal investigatory levels,” according to the news release.

Marion County prosecutors started looking into most of the incidents after a state investigation showed a “significant backlog” in the youth authority’s professional standards office.  

Clarkson said she sought the help of the Oregon Department of Justice in part due to the large number of investigations into conduct at MacLaren. 

“The sheer number and seriousness of these MacLaren investigations is almost overwhelming,” she said in the statement.

The facility houses up to 271 boys and young men and young adults. Correctional facilties are the most serious rung on the ladder of Oregon’s resources for youth offenders. People committed by judges to the youth authority for crimes they committed as minors can remain in the agency’s custody until they turn 25.

Marion County Chief Deputy District Attorney Brendan Murphy, Senior Deputy District Attorney David Wilson, and Kurt Miller, a senior state assistant attorney general will oversee the grand jury proceedings, according to the statement. All three prosecutors have significant experience with juvenile law.

Murphy serves on the Oregon Juvenile Justice Policy Commission and the youth authority’s safety task force, and he was previously a member of the Supreme Court’s Juvenile Justice Mental Health Task Force.  

He recently prosecuted the criminal case of a counselor at MacLaren, Emily Echtenkamp, who had sex with a young adult in custody at the facility. She was sentenced to five years in prison in March.

Wilson also has significant juvenile experience and oversees prosecutions of crimes committed in juvenile facilities in Marion County.

Miller is an expert on Oregon juvenile law, including waiver proceedings – a complex process established in 2019 through which juvenile cases can be moved into adult court. He has been deputized as a Marion County Deputy District Attorney for the inquiry.

Clarkson’s office said they expect the grand jury’s report to be completed by the end of the year. Grand jury proceedings are confidential until a report is finalized.

Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.

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