Wasco County To Redirect Youth At NORCOR To A Different Facility

Wasco County Commissioners have informed the Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facility Board of Directors that the County will immediately redirect any youth in NORCOR custody to a different facility pending resolution of the findings and recommendations from a Disability Rights of Oregon report critical of NORCOR’s juvenile detention facility.  The report called conditions there “inhumane,” but NORCOR officials dispute many of the findings.  In a letter released Wednesday night, the Wasco County Commission urged the NORCOR board call an emergency meeting to discuss the report, and demanded an independent investigation be conducted.  It also called for oversight of NORCOR’s juvenile facility to be turned over to a juvenile directors’ oversight committee has prescribed under state law.  Wasco County is one of four partner counties that operate NORCOR, and Wasco County Commissioner Rod Runyon is chair of the NORCOR board.  In Hood River County, Commission Chair Ron Rivers, who is also on the NORCOR board, was surprised by Wasco County’s move.  He feels the report over-reacted, adding “I think they were comparing maybe an adult facility to a juvenile facility.  I thought they were totally out of their realm.  There were some deficiencies that were brought up that we are addressing now.”  Rivers also wants to have an emergency meeting of the NORCOR board.

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