street roots
4
April 13 2012
and seeing the plant grow - that all creates
some sort of worth, and ultimately,
confidence in these youth that they can do
something and be successful.
Making right
from wrong
A.W: Measure 11, a mandatory minimum
sentencing law for violent person-to-person
crimes, treats youth committing those crimes
as adults. What impact has that had on OYA?
F.P.: Clearly, if you look at the makeup of
the system today versus before Measure 11,
you are seeing many older youth in our
system. Many states don’t keep youth in the
youth correctional system past the age of
18. We keep them until 25. Generally, what
happens is that the older youth need
different types of programming. For
example, what would help them is vocational
training, so they can go to college.
Fariborz Pakseresht, the new director o f the Oregon
Youth Authority, on what’s working - and what’s
not - in the world of corrections for kids
BY AM A NDA WALDROUPE
S T A F F W R IT E R
I
n small, dormitory-like facilities across
Oregon, the Oregon Youth Authority, or
OYA, has direct custody of approximately
750 youth between the ages of 12 and 25,
and supervises an additional 1,000 youth on
parole and probation in their communities.
As the state agency in charge of the state’s
juvenile justice system, OYA is the
gatekeeper for thousands of troubled and
disadvantaged young adults each year, and
its new director, Fariborz Pakseresht,
oversees it all.
Pakseresht first started working for the
authority in 2008. Prior to that, he worked
for the Department of Human Services and
the Department of Administrative Services
in a variety of leadership and administrative
roles.
Pakseresht has developed a reputation for
promoting government efficiency and
transparency. He is also a member of the
powerful Public Employees’ Benefit Board
(PEBB), a group th a t decide th e health
plans for-Oregon’a state employees...,.............
P a r s e r e s h t can ta lk n u m b e r s an d d a t a in
the same breath that he talks about the
stunning transformations he sees youth
make while they are in the OYA’s custody.
“Part of what creates an anchor for me in
this organization is hearing the stories of
youth who have made transformation in
their lives,” he says.
Amanda Waldroupe: What causes youth
to enter the corrections system?
Fariborz Pakseresh: You can look at the
causes, and you can look at the symptoms.
Clearly, the cause of them entering the
system is a crime they have committed. If
you dig deeper through the roots of those
causes, some disturbing statistics emerge.
Most of them are coming from families with
drug and alcohol issues. A large majority —
74 percent of females and 62 percent of
males — have been diagnosed with mental
health disorders. Many are victims of sexual
abuse — 40 percent of females—and in many
cases, by their own family members. Sixteen
percent of females and 12 percent of males
are already the biological parent of a child.
None of these are excuses for committing
the crimes they have committed. But it is a
point to be aware that many of these youth
... were victims, who in the process created
their own victims.
A.W: Are minority populations
overrepresented in the Oregon Youth
Authority?
F.P.: We have a huge overrepresentation
of minority youth, particularly with the
Native American and Hispanic population.
A.W: As you’ve said, there are a lot of
factors that influence a youth’s crime that have
nothing to do with the youth, such as their
family environment and their socio-economic
status.
F.P.: Crime victims are very sensitive
about this topic. Just because these youth
have had a pretty tough background, again,
does not justify the crime they have
committed. But that question ... is a very
substantive and critical question. If the
Oregon Youth Authority focuses on its own
world, which is youth ages 12 to 25, we are
missing whatever happens prior to age 12
that could have a significant impact on the
youth in the system. And if we don’t focus
on youth after 25, we are missing so many
factors that could cause them to go to DOC
(the Department of Corrections). You can
see the patterns. Their uncles are in DOC.
Their parents have been in OYA.
A.W: How does OYA help youth find their
path?
F.P.: When the youth come into our
system, they go through an extensive
(physical and mental) evaluation process. A
lot of these kids have very poor hygiene. It
is not inconceivable that this may be their
first dental exam that they’ve ever had.
Their nutrition and physical health is not
what it needs to be.
Depending on the crime they have
committed, there are various curriculums.
This is how Oregon differs from the other
states. This is not a typical correctional
setting. This is not child welfare. This is a
cleat treatment ana reiormauon
in a
c o r r e c tio n a l s e ttin g . T h e y g o to s c h o o l e v e r y
day, no matter what. If a youth is coming to
us for a sexual offense, there is a sexual
offender curriculum. There is an arson
curriculum. For violent crimes, there is an
aggression replacement therapy.
To the extent possible, we try to partner
with the community. We actually started a
huge garden at McClaren last year. They
actually grew food that was used for youth in
the facility. We just began a conversation
with the YMCA in Marion-Polk County
around a bike reclamation project, to rebuild
Fariborz Pakseresht
bikes. We have the Pooch Program for
abandoned or abused dogs. It’s a program
that resocializes these dogs, and makes
them adoptable. It has really amazing
results. The recidivism rate for youth
engaged in the program is zero.
A.W: Why?
F.P.: Youth that are doing the best have
the privilege to go into that program. It
allows youth to experience responsibility for
another being. It is a dog, but just to care
for something other than yourself...there are
so many different skills that go into that.
Patience. Teaching. Walking slowly,
mindfully. All of those things are skill sets
that some of these youth can use in their
future.
We just started a partnership with Chess
for Success. There are so many different
things that go into playing chess.
Contemplating before making a move. On
the surface, chess might be som ething fun,
but w hat tbev're realiv dom?r is arqw ring—
som e pretty deep skill sets th at will help
them in the future.
A.W: It sounds like they’re kept pretty busy.
F.P.: Generally, youth get in trouble when
they sit around. The more we can keep
them busy, and have that busy-ness be
meaningful to them...and use that time for
self-reflection and self-improvement, they
can tap into some pretty powerful sources.
The majority of these youth suffer from lack
of self-worth and self-confidence. Seeing the
result of training a dog, caring for a plant
A.W: Typically, when we think of a
corrections facility for adults, we think of them
- essentially - in a very punitive environment
where they’re behind a cell for many hours of
the day. Clearly, with the OYA it’s different.
Why is it important for youth and adults to be
in different corrective settings?
F.P.: When we talk about corrections, it
has primarily become a warehousing
environment. But it is not true correction. If
you’re talking about correcting behavior, you
have to talk about evidence-based treatment.
We don’t have any mega facilities. We have
smaller living units. Youth live in a
dormitory environment. Education and
treatment is a major part of their lives. The
(likelihood) of change is much greater
before age 25 then it is after age 25. The
brain is still developing until age 22.
I visited our only female facility in Albany,
and met a young woman, Bethany. She
wrote poems, and wanted to read some of
her poems to me. Her crime was robbery
and arson. She engaged in self harm—you
could see that h er arm was all cut up. She
was "overweight and w a s o n ’ multiple”
psychotropic drugs. Probably five months
later, (staff) told me I would not recognize
her. Jane Goodall had come to visit Portland,
and she actually spent some time with the
youth (in Albany). Somehow, she became an
inspiration for Bethany. She had lost 35
pounds. She looked totally different. She
had gotten off all her medications, and she
was giving me a lecture about how exercise
can produce endorphins that can replace
the medications. She has a plan to get a
PhD and work for the Jane Goodall Institute.
You just never know what spark activates
that passion in youth.
A.W: Gov. John Kitzhaber has established a
commission that is looking into changing the
state’s sentencing standards. What would you
like to see happen?
Epiphanies
by j.mccurdy
wide open spaces ... winds that aren’t afraid
to race across seas of sand
I miss these things
Open, honest, sweaty smiles, calloused hands and handkerchiefs
and deep belly laughter
oh dear god I miss these things...
right or wrong
black and white
before grey got a chance to play
wry grin and I miss the days when
I still thought I had all the answers
these days I often don’t even have the right question
and to be frank
I also
selfishly
miss the lack of insight
into the “my” side of things
you know back in the days
when I could wallow in your sins
instead of addressing my own
I have come to the conclusion
that it was never
your sins that kept me
up at night and wounded
it was, in fact,
my own.
F.P.: This agency, like many other state
agencies, can’t really have a position on
Measure 11. (But) changes in sentencing
can impact the Youth Authority. What we
can do is provide data. If a youth is now 22
and he has completed all of his treatment,
and he is a Department of Corrections
youth, and he is going to be with us for
three years, and two years at DOC, I have to
ask the question: are we helping this youth
by sending him to DOC, or are we hurting
him? Data and research tells us that sending
this youth increases his chance of recidivism
by 100 percent.
A.W: What would you like to accomplish
during your time as executive director?
F.P.: My vision for the Oregon Youth
Authority ... is to get to a world of juvenile
justice where the youth who come into the
system are exactly the youth that should be
in the system, and that they are assessed
appropriately, and matched with the best
environment for that reformation, and right
unit, with the right type of programming,
and that we keep them for the exactly right
length of stay and not a day longer. When
they go back to the community, they have
the skills they need...to become productive
members of our society, and have found
meaning in their lives.