OR DOC – South Fork Forest Camp (SFFC)

OR DOC – South Fork Forest Camp (SFFC) basic information to help guide you through what you can do for your inmate while they are incarcerated. The facility's direct contact number: 503-842-2811

This facility is for adult inmates.

The inmates housed at South Fork Forest Camp located at 48300 Wilson River Hwy in Tillamook, OR are placed according to their custody level (determined by a number of factors including the past criminal history and the length of their sentence). There are ample educational and vocational training programs for all inmates, especially ones that show a willingness to learn new things that will prepare them for a better life when they are released. The mission is to promote and prepare the offender to leave in better shape than when they arrived, giving them the best chance to never come back and thus lower the state's recidivism rate.

SFFC is a minimum-security work camp considered a satellite facility to the Columbia River Correctional Institution and houses 204 adult male inmates. The facility is co-managed jointly by the Oregon Department of Forestry. Inmates here provide a labor force within the prison performing tasks in the kitchen, laundry and cleaning services. Additionally, inmates can work with the Department of Forestry trimming tree's, trapping animals, planting trees, maintaining hiking trails, and treating the forests for insects. Tee inmates help the forestry service to combat wildfires throughout the state. The Camp is selective in the inmate's it accepts, and will not allow anyone with a history of violence, arson, sex offenses, animal abuse or with restraining orders to be housed here. Inmates at South Fork must be within 12-48 months of their release date, must have a good work history and no medical or mental health issues.

The Tillamook Burn Rehabilitation Program inaugurated in 1949 by the Oregon State Board of Forestry has been successful in reseeding and tree planting efforts. In addition, ORS 421.450 (Work Camps) was drafted. It is a result of this statute that the South Fork Forest Camp was created. Working in direct cooperation with the Oregon Department of Forestry, SFFC was built to provide aid in the restoration and administration of forests in Oregon.

The first buildings at the camp were built at the Oregon State Penitentiary, brought in and set up at what is now South Fork Forest Camp. These first cabins were quite primitive, with tar-paper walls, no plumbing or heat and offered little in terms of comfort for the inmates initially assigned to the camp. Fifteen inmates were assigned to each cabin.

The cabins in use at the camp today are of wood construction, all are fully plumbed, have showers and forced-air gas heat. (Up until October of 1996 they were heated with wood stoves, but in order to cut back on wood consumption, they were retrofitted with gas heat). Each cabin now houses twelve inmates. The road which runs along the front of the camp was the old stagecoach road which ran from Forest Grove to Tillamook.

visitation Info

OR DOC – South Fork Forest Camp – Visitation

Visiting Hours:

• Friday: 6:30 – 8 p.m.
• Saturday and Sunday: 8:30 – 11 a.m. and 1 – 3:30 p.m.

Identification (ID)

• For visitors ages 15 and up a driver’s license, passport, state ID card, military ID card, school ID card or other official government ID card
• Appropriate clothing 
  • DO NOT WEAR BLUE DENIM OR BLUE CLOTHING OF ANY KIND. This is for security purposes since inmates themselves wear blue and blue denim clothing.
  • Dress conservatively. Dresses, skirts, jumpers, culottes, and shorts are permitted if they are worn at knee level or lower when standing. Footwear and undergarments MUST BE WORN.
  • Inappropriate clothing includes suggestive, revealing, low-cut or skimpy clothing. Hats, wrap-around skirts, halter tops, sheer or see-through clothing are not allowed. Other types of provocative clothing; camoflage of any kind; and clothing, hairstyles, insignias or other paraphernalia associated with security threat groups or that are inflammatory in nature are also not allowed. 
  • TIP: Leave an extra set of clothes in your car if you are not sure that your clothing meets the requirements.
• Quarters
  • You may need to store items in a visiting locker, which requires a quarter to work.
  • You may also wish to bring quarters for use at the vending machine in the visiting room (no more than $15 in quarters is allowed).
• Metal Detector Medical Exception Form 
  • If you have a medical condition that makes it unsafe for you to walk through a metal detector, talk to your doctor about documentation and have them complete the Metal Detector Medical Exception Form linked above.

What to Leave at Home or in a Facility Locker

• Non-emergency medications, prescribed or non-prescribed, are not allowed in the visiting room. 
• Smoking of any kind is not allowed within a correctional institution or on State of Oregon property, so please leave any tobacco products, vapes, etc. behind. 
• Cash or other negotiable instruments other than $15 in quarters. You cannot bring checkbooks, credit and/or debit cards into the visiting area. 
• Cell phones, pagers, or other electronic devices are also not allowed in the visiting area.
• Weapons of any kind should not be brought into a facility.
• Metal buttons, body piercings, jewelry, underwire bras, and some shoes may activate the metal detector. Avoid wearing metal as much as possible or be prepared to remove certain items in order to pass through the metal detector successfully. Remember that undergarments MUST BE WORN at all times.
• Outer garments such as raincoats, ski jackets, and other garments that are lined are not allowed inside the visiting room.
• Hats of any kind are not allowed to be worn inside the facility.