Two young men were recently sentenced to time in state prison after pleading guilty to escaping from a youth correctional facility in Marion County last year.

Angel Diaz-Barrera, 20, of Salem, was sentenced to nine months in prison July 31 for escaping from MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility with two other young men in February 2024.

He pleaded guilty July 31 to first-degree criminal mischief in Marion County Circuit Court.

In exchange for his guilty plea, a charge of second-degree escape was dismissed, court records show.

The other men in the escape were his brother Julian Diaz-Navarro, 20, also of Salem, and Xavier Swimm, 22, of Portland.

Swimm was sentenced July 16 to 15 months in prison on a criminal mischief charge, court records show. He pleaded guilty that day.

MacLaren, which is in Woodburn, is the state’s largest youth correctional facility and currently holds 162 boys and young men.

The three men escaped Feb. 18, 2024.

Diaz-Barrera was arrested in Clackamas County last October, seven months after the escape, and Swimm was arrested in western Idaho in May 2024, according to Salem Reporter coverage. 

Diaz-Navarro was arrested six days after the escape at Salem Hospital. Court records show no charges against him relating to the escape.

It was the fourth escape in recent years from youth facilities, and the second from MacLaren, Salem Reporter previously reported.

Officials wouldn’t say how the men escaped at the time, citing an ongoing investigation and efforts to prevent copycats.

In the months after the February 2024 escape, the Oregon Youth Authority, which runs MacLaren, installed new security features, including more fencing, increased security presence and stricter vehicle access, spokesman Will Howell told Salem Reporter last October.

The agency has been under scrutiny for mishandling thousands of abuse complaints over the past 20 years, with a particular focus on conditions at MacLaren. 

Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson launched a grand jury inquiry in June to examine the facility’s management and conditions. Clarkson’s inquiry came several months after Gov. Tina Kotek fired the authority’s director because of reports that the agency failed to investigate reported abuse.

Kotek recently appointed a new director,  Michael Tessean, to “usher forward a new chapter at OYA,” she said in a statement.

Diaz-Barrera and his brother were both sentenced to prison for their involvement in a 2021 gang-related stabbing in Tigard that injured a 17-year-old boy, Washington County court filings show.

On July 2, Diaz-Barrera pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and robbery in the stabbing case and was sentenced to almost six years. He is currently in custody at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.

Marion County Circuit Court Judge Audrey Broyles ordered his sentence for the escape to be served concurrently.

Diaz-Navarro has been serving a seven and a half year sentence for the stabbing at the Oregon State Correctional Institute since July 11, according to the state’s prison roster.

Marion County Circuit Court Judge Michelle Vlach-Ing sentenced Swimm to serve his escape sentence at the same time as a two year sentence for assaulting staff at a youth correctional facility in Josephine County, court records show.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

Salem teen arrested 7 months after escaping from juvenile facility

Three teens escape from MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility Sunday night

CLARIFICATION: This story was updated with the number of how many youth are currently at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility.

Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected].

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