Woodburn Independent Online

Riggan leaves MacLaren, Thompson takes over

Isidro 'Sid' Thompson comes from OYA's La Grande facility

• By: Rachel Cavanaugh  
• Published: 2/10/2010 2:47:36 PM
• Last Updated: 2/12/2010 2:29:28 PM

Sid Thompson

WOODBURN — The superintendent of MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility has resigned to take a position with Washington County.
 
On Wednesday, administrators from Oregon Youth Authority (OYA) announced that Mike Riggan, who began at MacLaren in September of 2008, would be stepping down.

Riggan has accepted a new job heading that county’s Harkins House juvenile shelter in Hillsboro.
 
“The position there more closely aligned with some of his goals for what he would like to accomplish before he retires,” said OYA spokeswoman Anne Snyder.
 
Replacing him is Isidro ‘Sid’ Thompson, a longtime juvenile corrections administrator.

Thompson has been the superintendent of OYA’s RiverBend facility in La Grande for the past two years and has spent over three decades in the corrections field.
 
He will officially take over at MacLaren on Feb. 22., with training under Riggan to begin immediately.
 
“He’s got a lot of energy and a lot of talent and a lot of skill and he brings more than 30 years of experience with him in corrections,” Snyder said of the agency’s new hire. “He’s proved himself. We think he’s a great choice.”
 
Snyder said Thompson shares some of the values and leadership principles of Riggan.
 
“One of the things that we really like about both Sid and Mike is that they take seriously the concept of reformation,” she said. “We are about reformation, not punishment. There is, of course, accountability and we get the youth who have committed serious enough crimes that they have to be incarcerated, but the goal is to turn their lives around and both superintendents take that seriously.
 
“Both of them also take to heart the concept that these youth are under their guardianship, that they have a responsibility to help them turn their lives around … they’re both also very open communicators.”
 
OYA Director Collette Peters said Thompson will be a valuable addition to the facility.
“Sid Thompson’s three decades of diverse responsibilities in juvenile corrections have made him an effective and respected leader,” she said.
 
“MacLaren youth and staff will benefit from the wealth of experience, knowledge and compassion he brings to the job,” Peters said.
 
Thompson will be relocating to the Woodburn area from La Grande with his wife in the coming months. The couple has three grown children, all of whom are in college. His oldest daughter is a nursing school student in Montana, one son is at a university in North Dakota and the other in Michigan.
 
Thompson has horses which he cites as one of his main hobbies.
 
He said he is eager to join the community at MacLaren, which he called the “mother ship of the agency.”
 
Keeping public safety in the forefront and adhering to OYA mission goals are the main priorities, he said. Practicing good business is paramount, he added.
 
“It’s a matter of being open and honest,” Thompson said. “It’s a matter of communicating with people. It’s a matter of personal and professional integrity and just kind of keeping those things in mind as we deal with the public, as we deal with the youth, and as we deal with each other.”
 
The new administrator said he is looking forward to getting to know the Woodburn community.
 
“I’ve had an opportunity to kind of look around at the outskirts of town and I think it’s beautiful,” said Thompson. “I like open spaces and I think Woodburn offers that. It offers the opportunity to live in a rural setting but yet be close enough to the major metropolitan areas to experience some of the things that the bigger cities have to offer.”
 
Thompson spent time with the Arkansas Division of Youth Services, where he was the assistant director of residential operations. He also managed juvenile correctional facilities and residential treatment facilities in Arkansas and consulted with five states.
 
MacLaren houses male violent offenders, sex offenders, those with substance abuse issues, older male youth and the majority of the male Oregon Department of Corrections population committed to OYA facilities.
 
The 295-bed facility in Woodburn is the largest of the agency’s 10 facilities and transitional camps.

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