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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 2019)
A8 OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian Wednesday, January 9, 2019 STEPS: Workers addressing anger issues in new ways Continued from Page A1 He ended up in a quiet room with a counselor who probed what triggered the scene. This is STEPS, which stands for “stop, think, explore, plan, share,” and it’s the state’s effort to move away from isolation as the answer to juvenile trouble. Zack said he’s spent plenty of time in isolation and STEPS. In isolation, he stews. But he likes STEPS, he said, and goes a few times each week to cool down. Only a few months old, STEPS is now used fol- lowing verbal outbursts, or when a youth just needs a break. It allows them to calm down while not disrupting others. Before, they used to land incarcerated youth in a locked room, but now that punishment is reserved for more violent episodes. Zack’s conduct was in the middle of the trouble scale. In a monotone, measured voice, he told STEPS worker Rolando Contreras what happened. He remained deadpan as he described the rage he was feeling. Zack said he doesn’t show his anger until it’s uncontrol- lable. When he asked for a break after a dispute with another kid the staff member told him he seemed fine. He responded by throw- ing a shoe and kicking things. “In the calm way, I was showing her I was mad. She didn’t believe me,” Zack said. “So I felt like I had to show her in a different way.” The event was emblem- atic of Zack’s struggle with MacLaren, and the facil- ity’s effort to better deal with incarcerated youth who often have lives rife with trauma. Zack had been held at Marion County Juve- nile Detention since he was 12. Over the years, the staff learned what set him off and what calmed him down. He transferred to MacLaren a month ago as he neared his 18th birthday. So far, he and the MacLaren staff are still doing an awk- ward, introductory dance. The Oregon Youth Authority’s move away from isolation in favor of things like STEPS initially created a rub with some staff. “There are systems that rely on isolation and rely on pepper spray,” Director Joe O’Leary said. “They are control devices. The belief is if you don’t have access to those, you’re making the environment less safe.” O’Leary said as isola- tion use has declined, so have violent incidents. In 2017, the Legislature passed a bill endorsed by O’Leary Oregon Capital Bureau/Aubrey Wieber Ezequiel shows the Native American sweat lodge built on the MacLaren property. Using the lodge and learning things like historic Aztec dances have helped him relate with his culture as he sheds his past running with gangs. Courtesy of Oregon Youth Authority Left: John, a youth mentor at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility, helps 18-year-old Zack understand the various personalities of staff at the facility. John regularly works in the STEPS program, an alternative to isolation, which Zack uses several times each week. Right: The isolation unit at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn. that bans the use of isola- tion for punishment. Instead, the agency uses it to man- age a youth in crisis and provide them an “opportu- nity to self-regulate behav- ior” according to state code. MacLaren workers still use it in the face of violence. When a youth is in isola- tion, they must be monitored every 15 minutes, and taken out when they are no longer a danger to themselves or others. Youth can’t be in iso- lation more than five days. Over the past few years, isolation at Oregon Youth Authority facilities has declined, going from 370 instances in July 2016 to 140 in December 2018. A diverse group MacLaren is the behe- moth of Oregon’s juve- nile justice system. It sits in northeast Woodburn, about 19 miles north of Salem on Highway 99 on a 172- acre parcel, 80 of which are enclosed in high fenc- ing. With 271 beds, it’s Ore- gon Youth Authority’s larg- est institution, and generally operates at capacity. It’s also infamous. During a recent visit, staff joked about how their parents used the facility as a threat. “You’d better be good, or you’ll get sent to MacLaren,” they were told. MacLaren holds some of Oregon’s most dangerous youth. Many were convicted under Measure 11, Oregon’s minimum sentencing law, and will eventually move to prison. It held Kip Kinkel, the Thurston High School shooter, for nearly 10 years until he was transferred in 2007. It also currently houses 40 youth working on their bachelor’s degree. It holds young men becoming experts in metal work and machining, learning about their culture and fighting to change the juvenile justice Walden: To hold first town halls since 2017 Continued from Page A1 halls that drew thousands of callers and his meetings with smaller forums and focus groups. The release announcing January’s meetings stated that the congressman has held 148 town hall meetings since 2012. Walden began his term on Thursday, the second day of the Legislative ses- sion, by breaking ranks with the Republican Party and backing a Democratic bill that would end the govern- ment shutdown. He voted against another Democratic bill which would fund the Department of Homeland Security, but would not pro- vide money for a border wall. Both bills passed in the House, but Senate Major- ity Leader Mitch McConnell has said he will not bring the bills to the Senate because President Donald Trump won’t sign them. Walden said in an inter- view with Oregon Public Broadcasting that he didn’t think employees of national parks and forests should be caught up in a fight about border security. Walden will be at the Pendleton Convention Cen- ter on Wednesday, Jan. 23 at 8:30 a.m., and at the SAGE Center Theater in Boardman the same day, at noon. Effort: Underway to strengthen hate-crime laws Continued from Page A1 and immigrants, people of color and others together. Among those attending Monday’s session were the police chief of Salem and a sheriff, Hussaini said. “To be on a task force with law enforcement offi- cials, to maintain our iden- tity, to correct the record and speak frankly and clearly to these powers, gives us keen insights and allows us to have an exchange with law enforcement that is usually absent,” Hussaini said. The turnout showed there’s “overwhelming support” for the effort to strengthen the state’s hate- crime laws, Hussaini said. Currently, the crime of intimidation in the first degree, a felony, applies only if two or more peo- ple harm another person because of “that person’s race, color, religion, sex- ual orientation, disability or national origin,” or if they cause another person to fear imminent serious injury. But if a person moti- vated by prejudice acts alone, it’s only intimida- tion in the second degree — a misdemeanor. It’s also a misdemeanor if a person tampers with property or makes threats because of prejudice. A glaring example, Hus- saini said, is the case of Jeremy Christian, who allegedly stabbed three peo- ple — killing two of them — aboard a light-rail train in Portland in May 2017. The victims had tried to intervene as Christian spewed anti-Muslim threats at two black teenage girls. Yet it was not classified as a hate crime, Hussaini noted. Christian’s trial on charges including aggra- vated murder is pending. The task force is seeking to help craft legislation that would go before lawmak- ers during the 2019 session. It would also address data collection. The other listening ses- sions were scheduled for Tuesday in Eugene and Wednesday in Medford. laws keeping them locked up. Four years ago, the department implemented a “positive human develop- ment” program aimed to rehabilitate youth. Part of that is treating the youth bet- ter: Staff are supposed to act more like councilors or social workers than correc- tional officers. At Oak Creek Correc- tional Facility, the smaller female facility in Albany, that culture shift is visi- ble. Youth are quick to talk about the good relationships they’ve built with employ- ees, and how they are scared to leave such a supportive environment. But agency officials said transforming the culture in MacLaren is different. Culture shift “I think the bigger the facility, and the longer it’s been around, the harder it is,” said Clint McClellan, assistant director of facility services. Sometimes workers feel the new approach puts them in danger. “Where they live and breathe is around safety,” McClellan said of staff. “That’s their lifeblood.” McClellan said some of the “old school” staff saw the shift as letting kids do whatever they wanted with no repercussions. About five years ago, agency exec- utives conducted meet- ings with staff about reduc- ing time in isolation. Heber Bray, a youth authority pol- icy analyst, said the push of taking away such a classic tool was long and trying. “You can watch any cor- rections movie anywhere in the world,” he said. “That’s the punishment — you go to the hole.” In a juvenile setting, get- ting sent to isolation can include time in a restricted cell, working with staff on the unit, or other activities. “As episodes reduce, the length of stay in isola- tion goes up, because you are only using it for seri- ous episodes,” Bray said. In December, stays on the iso- lation unit at all facilities ranged from 25 minutes to four days. Line workers made it clear that one disruptive kid can trigger disarray in a 25-per- son unit. There needed to be somewhere to send them. They landed on creating an “in between” space, like STEPS, where a kid could go to cool down and have therapy without being in isolation. But agency heads knew if STEPS was consid- ered punishment, like iso- lation, it wouldn’t have the desired effect. When considered punish- ment, “It becomes another hammer,” Bray said. At the end of summer, STEPS was born. The pro- gram is housed in an old kitchen and dining hall pre- viously used for youth liv- ing. Only MacLaren uses STEPS, but Bray said it will be rolled to the four other juvenile corrections loca- tions in the spring. An alternative In a large agency, a men- tality fostered over decades can be hard to shed. Back in the STEPS building, Zack told Ronaldo Contreras about another staffer that he struggles to get along with. Contreras, fellow STEPS worker Chaan Saechao and a youth helper all discussed the staffer as well. The con- sensus: He’s old school. Zack said the staffer talks to him in a commanding way, threatening to punish him if he doesn’t obey. He likened it to being treated like an animal. What Zack described was opposite of what the agency is working to implement, and which is so clearly on display at Oak Creek. But Contreras’ response per- fectly aligned with the new mission. Contreras asked Zack to role play the staffers he was mad at. He then would imi- tate their voices and actions, even in a mocking tone. It diffused a tense situation. Zack eased up. He listened to observations and laughed. He was vulnerable, talking about the issues he deals with daily. And Contreras used the opportunity to explain that the workers mean well, and have a lot to deal with. But Contreras conceded that some employees are struggling under the new culture guidelines, even if they’ve been in place for years. Contreras then explained that he would report the incident, includ- ing how Zack viewed it, so other employees could learn. Life on the unit STEPS addresses a critical demographic at MacLaren, mostly younger and traumatized, Bray said. “The kids that use STEPS the most are emotionally reactive kids — the kids that maybe shouldn’t have been brought into the incarcera- tion system to begin with,” Bray said. Ezequiel, 23, is seven years into a 20-year sen- tence. Today, he’s a model inmate. He’s about to gradu- ate from Portland State Uni- versity on the dean’s list. He has stopped getting in fights and has become spiritual. The large gang tattoo across his chest is fading following on-site tattoo removal ses- sions, analogous of the for- mer life he started to shed a couple years into his time at MacLaren. Ezequiel is an ambas- sador of reform, and was picked to guide a reporter’s tour of MacLaren. He and others with long sentences are active in Hope Partner- ship, a program that brings in experts to show their craft, whether it be podcast- ing, gardening or film. Through these programs, Ezequiel got in touch with his Aztec roots. He learned cultural dances, and started using a sweat lodge on the grounds. There, he said, a couple years into his stay at MacLaren, things clicked for him and he learned to be humble, he said. “I was introduced to that here,” Ezequiel said. “I wasn’t introduced to that out in the community.” Program: Response to community survey overwhelming, confirmed need in Pendleton Continued from Page A1 That need was con- firmed when the depart- ment-commissioned sur- vey showed that 54 percent of respondents considered an after-school program for elementary school stu- dents “very important.” Combined with the respon- dents who labeled an after- school program “somewhat important,” 86 percent of survey takers voiced their desire for the program. Hughes started meet- ing with leaders from the Pendleton School District and the IMESD. Under the current plan, the parks and recreation depart- ment would provide staff- ing for the program while the Pendleton School Dis- trict would provide the facilities at Washington Elementary School, Sher- wood Heights Elementary School, McKay Creek Ele- mentary School, and the Pendleton Early Learning Center. Pendleton Superinten- dent Chris Fritsch said the program would likely reside in the schools’ cafe- terias or gyms. IMESD Superintendent Mark Mulvihill said the ser- vice district has assigned its director of instructional ser- vice, Eric Volger, to craft a curriculum. The program’s sponsors envision after- school sessions, including a structured physical activ- ity, snacks, and a rotating schedule of STEM, art and music activities. Mulvihill said the idea is to avoid hours of free play while making sure that students don’t view it as another source of schoolwork. “We want to make it a fun, interactive experi- ence,” he said. The three agencies still have other details to sort out. Although the sur- vey asked respondents if they would support an after-school program from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Hughes said the exact hours have yet to be determined. And although the parks and rec- reation department is com- mitted to hiring new “boots on the ground” to staff each site, Hughes said the exact staffing level will also need to be determined. Hughes said the pro- gram has flexibility in its staffing levels because it’s operated by public entities, but he would want it at sim- ilar staff-to-child ratios as child care centers. The city expects about 100 students in the pro- gram’s first year. “We want to be a qual- ity program,” he said. “We don’t want to be a ware- house that houses kids.” The city plans to charge parents $8 per day to offset staffing costs, but Hughes admitted that low-income families may have trouble paying for tuition. If a student attended all 170 school days when the after-school program was offered, it would cost a par- ent $1,360 per year. About 55 percent of the Pendleton School District’s students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and Hughes expects a similar amount will need financial assis- tance to pay for tuition. An after-school scholar- ship fund recently received a $5,000 grant from Cycle Oregon, the guided bicy- cle ride nonprofit that came through Pendleton in Sep- tember. But Hughes wants to bolster the fund further with the Wild West Beer Fest, a June 22 craft beer festival fundraiser. The IMESD is also pro- viding grant writing ser- vices to find additional revenue to support the program.