Oregon Juvenile Detention Center Abuse
If you experienced sexual abuse while incarcerated at an Oregon juvenile detention center, you have legal rights and options. We’re here to help you understand them and take the next step to pursue justice.
"*" indicates required fields
Author: Kathryn Kosmides
Survivor Advocate
Key Takeaways
- Oregon juvenile detention centers have a long history of abuse occurring within these facilities, with some incidents dating back decades.
- Many individuals who have experienced sexual abuse by staff members at Oregon juvenile detention centers have filed lawsuits, spoken to the media, and reported the harm to law enforcement.
- If you or a loved one experienced sexual abuse within an Oregon youth facility, you have legal rights, including eligibility to file a civil lawsuit against the facility or the state over the harm.
Overview of Oregon Juvenile Detention Center Abuse
Over the last year, dozens of reports and lawsuits have been filed against Oregon juvenile detention centers alleging severe and pervasive sexual abuse of the incarcerated youth within their care.
The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics issued a December 2020 report finding that 14 percent of girls and young women incarcerated in 2018 at the Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility had reported being sexually assaulted or abused while at the institution. The facility houses female youths ages 12 to 24 who commit crimes before age 18. It is ranked among the worst for sexual abuse against incarcerated youth in the country.
Several other Oregon juvenile detention facilities also ranked above the national average for sexual abuse. According to the report, 11.1 percent of youths at the St. Mary’s Home for Boys in Beaverton and 10.3 percent of those at the Rogue Valley Youth Correctional Facility in Grants Pass reported sexual abuse or assault.
While the news of this abuse has just recently come to light, allegations of sexual abuse at these facilities date back decades.
Between September 2021 and April 2022, an employee at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility allegedly sexually assaulted a young boy housed at the facility multiple times. She later faced criminal charges.
In 2014, a lawsuit was filed by a former inmate at MacLaren against the Oregon Youth Authority, accusing the agency of ignoring “rampant sexual abuse” of children and teens in state custody. In 2016, Judge Claudia Burton dismissed the case, finding that the suit was time-barred by the state’s statute of limitation. However, the Oregon Supreme Court reinstated the case in January 2019.
In 2003 through 2004, 15 men came forward, alleging that they had been abused while they were incarcerated at the MacLaren during the 1970s.
In 1997, a former corrections officer at the Hillcrest Youth Correctional Facility was accused of sexually abusing three teen inmates. The former officer was convicted on criminal charges but received no jail time.
Between 1982 and 1986, an incarcerated youth at St. Mary’s Home for Boys was allegedly molested by a counselor named Spencer Biddle Dick. He filed a lawsuit in 2016.
While some facilities have been closed pending investigation, many remain open. Meanwhile, dozens of abuse survivors have come forward in the last year to file sexual abuse lawsuits against Oregon juvenile detention facilities, speak to the media, and file police reports against the perpetrators.
If you or someone you know experienced sexual abuse while in an Oregon juvenile detention center, you have legal rights and options. We’re here to help you understand them and pursue justice.
Oregon Juvenile Detention Center Facilities & Abuse Examples
Some survivors of abuse may not recognize or label it as abuse at the time of the incident because of a variety of factors, including fear, shame, guilt, or the belief that the act was consensual.
Minors do not have the legal capacity to consent to sexual activity. In addition, the law recognizes the inherent power dynamic between incarcerated youth and detention facility employees, including correctional officers or guards. Thus, detainees cannot legally consent to sexual acts regardless of the circumstances.
The following are some examples of the reported abuse in Oregon juvenile detention facilities:
- Grooming, including building relationships with individuals and their families
- Inappropriate sexual comments
- Inappropriate touching
- Molestation
- Unnecessary strip searches
- Sharing nude photos or taking nude photos of an individual
- Sexual assault, including forced oral sex and rape
- Being given food, drugs, cellphones, or contraband in exchange for sexual acts
- Coercion
- Threats of sexual abuse
- Threats or retaliation after reporting sexual abuse
Youths incarcerated at Oregon facilities are vulnerable to sexual abuse, regardless of gender, with many reported allegations involving sexual abuse of boys and young men by female staff perpetrators. While fellow inmates have perpetrated some of the sexual abuse at these facilities, a majority of abuse has allegedly been committed by staff members.
Regardless of your age, gender, sexual orientation, or the circumstances of the incident, you deserve to seek help and healing.
List of Juvenile Detention Centers in Oregon
If you experienced harm at any of the following youth incarceration facilities in Oregon, contact us for more information and assistance to explore your legal rights and options:
- Camp Florence Youth Transitional Facility in Florence
- Camp Riverbend Youth Transitional Facility in La Grande
- Camp Tillamook Youth Transitional Facility in Tillamook
- Tillamook Youth Correctional Facility in Tillamook
- Eastern Oregon Youth Correctional Facility in Burns
- MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn
- Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility in Albany
- Rogue Valley Youth Correctional Facility in Grants Pass
- Jackie Winters Transition Program in Albany
We are here to listen and advocate for you.
Oregon Juvenile Detention Center Abuse: Legal Rights & Options
Children and teens sent to juvenile detention centers have often already endured significant trauma. Research shows that many young people who end up in these facilities have experienced high rates of childhood sexual and physical abuse.
Instead of finding a place to heal or develop new skills, many of these youths face further harm and re-traumatization in detention. However, over the past few years, hundreds of survivors have courageously come forward to report abuse at juvenile detention centers nationwide, including Illinois, Maryland, and California.
If you have experienced abuse at a juvenile detention center in Oregon, you have rights and options available to you. These include reporting the abuse to the state, reporting the abuse to law enforcement, filing a civil lawsuit, speaking with the media, and accessing mental health support.
Oregon’s civil and criminal statutes of limitations may impact your ability to pursue some of these options. The civil statute of limitations imposes the deadline for filing a lawsuit, while the criminal statute of limitations sets the deadline for prosecutors to press criminal charges.
In Oregon, determining the deadline set by the civil and criminal statutes of limitations can be complex. Thus, speaking with an experienced advocate or attorney is the best way to understand your legal rights and available options. However, we recommend contacting us even if you believe the statute of limitations has expired.
Report Oregon Juvenile Detention Center Abuse to Oregon Youth Authority
Individuals have the right to report sexual abuse at Oregon juvenile detention centers to the Oregon Youth Authority, or OYA, which oversees all the juvenile detention facilities within the state.
There are four main ways to report abuse or file a complaint related to Oregon Youth Authority staff members.
- Call the OYA Reporting Line at 1-800-315-5440 and leave a message
- Submit a paper grievance form or file a complaint online
- Email PSO: professionalstandards.office@oya.oregon.gov
- Write a letter to the Governor’s Constituent Services Office – 900 Court St., Suite 254, Salem, OR 97301. While this office is not part of OYA, it accepts reports of abuse.
The impacted individual, a trusted adult, or the parents or guardians of an incarcerated youth can file a report.
According to the OYA’s website, anonymous reports can be filed. However, this may make investigating the report more difficult. The OYA says that individuals who file a complaint will be informed of its status and ultimate outcome. Additionally, it states all complaints are kept as confidential as possible, but “should the information received in your complaint result in criminal or administrative action, your complaint information may be released to the proper authorities or the parties involved.”
Filing a complaint or grievance with OYA will most often result in an internal investigation, which may result in employee sanctions or termination.
Please note: We strongly recommend consulting a lawyer experienced with juvenile detention center abuse cases before contacting oversight organizations. An attorney can protect your rights throughout this process. Helping Survivors can connect you with an experienced attorney today.
File an Oregon Juvenile Detention Center Lawsuit for Abuse
You may be eligible to file a civil lawsuit or join an existing lawsuit against an Oregon juvenile facility, the state, the county, and the perpetrator.
A civil lawsuit allows you to seek monetary compensation for the harm you experienced. It can also help create a public record of the abuse, offering other impacted individuals the knowledge that they are not alone and encouraging them to come forward.
To protect your privacy, you can likely file the lawsuit anonymously as a “Jane Doe” or “John Doe” to protect your identity.
As with any legal action, sexual abuse lawsuits are subject to a statute of limitations, which sets a deadline for filing a claim. Oregon generally has a two-year personal injury statute of limitations. However, if the victim was a child at the time of the abuse, the deadline is extended until the victim’s 40th birthday or five years after the victim learned of or should have become aware of the link between the injury and the abuse, whichever is later.
If you were over the age of 18 at the time of the abuse, you may still have the ability to file a civil lawsuit beyond the general two-year civil statute of limitations.
Oregon’s Abuse of Vulnerable Persons Act gives certain vulnerable persons up to seven years to file a lawsuit. As an incarcerated youth victimized by a staff member, you will likely qualify as a vulnerable person under the law.
Helping Survivors can connect you with a law firm experienced in such cases for a free consultation to discuss your legal options. The attorneys we work with handle these types of cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you won’t pay any upfront costs, and they only get paid if they recover compensation for you.
Report Oregon Juvenile Detention Center Abuse to Law Enforcement
You also have the right to file a report with law enforcement regarding the harm you experienced.
For survivors of juvenile detention center abuse, reporting the abuse to the police can feel especially difficult, especially when the perpetrator was a member of law enforcement, such as a police officer, correctional officer, guard, or other staff member.
Impacted individuals who are still incarcerated may not feel safe reporting the abuse themselves due to fear of retaliation. In such cases, a trusted person can help navigate the reporting process, exploring the youth’s rights and options while prioritizing their safety. It’s highly recommended they consult an experienced attorney who can ensure the individual doesn’t face further retaliation and their legal rights are protected.
Even if the abuse occurred years ago, you still have the right to report it to law enforcement. The ability of the authorities to prosecute the case will depend on factors like the availability of evidence and the relevant criminal statute of limitations.
Reporting the abuse generally triggers a criminal investigation, and it will be up to prosecutors to decide whether to press criminal charges against the perpetrator. An individual cannot press charges against someone. While filing a report only starts a criminal investigation, it can also create an important paper trail for yourself and others.
If you are considering reporting Oregon juvenile detention center abuse to law enforcement, we can help you understand this process.
Oregon Juvenile Detention Center Abuse Lawsuit FAQs
Whether you have questions about reporting abuse to the state or filing a lawsuit against an Oregon youth detention center, we’re here to help.
We have helped many individuals impacted by juvenile detention center abuse and have compiled this list of questions we often receive. If you have any questions or need information specific to your circumstances, we’ll be in touch as soon as possible.
How can a lawyer help if I experienced abuse at an Oregon juvenile detention center?
A lawyer experienced in juvenile detention center abuse can do the following:
- Investigate and gather evidence of the abuse that occurred at the facility
- Prepare and submit reports to oversight authorities, such as the Oregon Youth Authority
- Report the incident to law enforcement if it hasn’t already been reported
- Prepare and file a lawsuit on your behalf, including filing under seal to protect your identity if possible and desired
- Manage all communications with the involved parties, their legal teams, and the courts
- Conduct discovery, including depositions if necessary
- Negotiate with the opposition to reach a fair and just settlement if possible
- Represent you during court proceedings, including a trial if needed
- Advocate for your best interests throughout the entire case
Finding a trustworthy and experienced attorney can be challenging, especially after enduring such harm within the legal system. At Helping Survivors, we partner with a network of skilled law firms across the country with deep experience supporting survivors of all forms of sexual abuse, including those who have suffered abuse at juvenile detention centers.
How much does filing an Oregon juvenile detention center abuse lawsuit cost?
Most law firms with experience in these cases know what is involved and how to fiercely represent their clients. Because of this, they generally take these cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning there are no upfront costs, and they only get paid if and when they recover compensation for you.
Each law firm in our network employs trauma-informed professionals dedicated to advocating for abuse survivors.
Thus, it should not cost you anything to file or pursue a claim against an Oregon juvenile detention center. If a lawyer requests money for a consultation or proposes to represent you on an hourly basis, you may want to speak with a different attorney.
What is the process for filing an Oregon juvenile detention center sexual abuse lawsuit?
In general, the steps to file a lawsuit for juvenile detention center sexual assault include the following:
- Document the Incident – Write down everything you remember about the abuse, document any potential evidence, and list any potential witnesses or individuals you spoke to about the abuse.
- Consult an Attorney – It’s important to speak with an attorney experienced with juvenile detention center abuse cases as soon as possible. They can guide you through each step of the legal process.
- Review & Sign a Law Firm Fee Agreement – Most law firms handle these cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you won’t have to pay any upfront costs. The firm is only compensated if they recover compensation for you.
- Lawsuit Filed Against the Facility – Filing suit against an Oregon juvenile detention center may involve several steps, which your law firm will handle so you can focus on healing.
- Responding to Court Appearances & Requests – If preliminary court appearances or filings are required, your attorney will handle these on your behalf, so you likely won’t need to prepare the paperwork or attend.
- Discovery – During this phase, your attorney will gather evidence and exchange it with the opposition. Evidence might include documentation and records from the facility relating to policies and previous incidents.
- Depositions – At depositions, the parties and witnesses testify under oath. If a deposition is necessary, your attorney will prepare you for the questioning.
- Settlement Negotiations, Litigation, and Trial – After discovery, the parties may engage in settlement discussions. If no agreement is reached, the case will proceed to court, where it may be litigated further. If necessary, it may proceed to a jury trial.
Your lawyer will shoulder the burden of the legal details and keep you informed throughout the process, allowing you to focus on healing and recovering from the harm.
What are the potential outcomes of an Oregon juvenile detention center abuse lawsuit?
Every case is unique. Given the vast amount of lawsuits recently filed against youth detention centers nationwide, estimating the outcome is difficult. However, many cases of sexual abuse at juvenile detention facilities have resulted in six and seven-figure payouts to claimants.
An experienced attorney may be able to evaluate your case and provide a more informed answer in terms of potential outcomes and financial compensation available.
Want To Speak With A Lawyer?
