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The Oregon Youth Authority‘s 10 juvenile correctional facilities require approximately $100 million worth of maintenance, renovations and upgrades for better rehabilitation of young offenders, according to a recent report.

The Youth Reformation System and Facilities Report released this month recommends various upgrades to bring the state’s youth correctional facilities up to current seismic standards and make them accessible to people with disabilities, OYA spokeswoman Ann Snyder said.

The report recommended renovations based on best practices in youth correctional facility designs, she said. This includes changing layouts to provide more space for education, exercise and mental health treatment, and to reduce the number of youths staying in each housing unit as well as replace dormitories with individual rooms.

One facility in Salem would be closed and consolidated into another as the youth offender population decreases.

The report was compiled by partnering consultants DLR Group, which has a Portland office, and Columbia, S.C.-based Chinn Planning Inc. Both firms have extensive experience designing correctional facilities, according to Snyder.

The renovations recommended in the report would reshape OYA facilities that were originally designed like adult prisons, Snyder said.

鈥淭he design was modeled after best practices in the adult setting, but we’re finding that youth are different,鈥� she said.

Another key finding in the report is to move away from dormitories toward individual rooms, Snyder said. This is especially important for recent arrivals who may want a place to retreat where they feel safe, she said.

Ideally, the improvements will help better rehabilitate youth offenders to become productive members of society, Snyder said.

鈥淲e’re learning that there are ways that facilities are constructed that can help better outcomes,鈥� she said.

Next spring, the Oregon Legislature will consider funding projects recommended in the facilities report. If funding were approved, the soonest construction could begin would be fall 2015, Snyder said.