Investigation of NORCOR Juvenile Jail Finds Children Held in Conditions “Harsher and More Restrictive” Than Adult Jail

Kids are locked up for far longer than their peers in Multnomah County and frequently subjected to solitary confinement.

By Nigel Jaquiss

Disability Rights Oregon today released the results of its investigation into the juvenile detention facility at the four-county Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facility in The Dalles  known as NORCOR.

NORCOR has been in the news because it is used as a contract jail for adults held by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. But DRO decided to examine its juvenile detention facilities as well.

The report is based on three visits by Sarah Radcliffe, a staff lawyer at DRO, a federally-funded civil rights group, and interviews with facility staff and 23 juveniles. Oregon Public Broadcasting first reported on Radcliffe's investigation.

"We saw kids as young as twelve who were locked in their cells for hours at a time and weren't allowed to read, write, or draw. They were isolated and had no one to talk to. They weren't allowed to look out of windows or to ask what time it was," Radcliffe's report says. "Conditions were harsher and more restrictive than any adult jail we had visited."

NOCOR manager Bryan Brandenburg told OPB he disagreed with some of the investigation’s findings but will be implementing some of the reforms the report recommends.

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