Tyler Clark has been selected as the new superintendent of Powder River Correctional Facility, the minimum-security state prison in Baker City.

Clark replaces Tom McLay, who was promoted to the Westside Institutions Administrator for the Oregon Department of Corrections in February of this year.

Clark started his career with the corrections department in 2014 as a correctional officer at Powder River. Since then he has advanced through the security ranks, serving in numerous roles including PRCF emergency preparedness manager, less lethal instructor, firearms instructor, sexual abuse liaison, operations lieutenant, and as the statewide emergency preparedness captain during a job rotation. He has also contributed to various local and statewide committees.

In 2023, he was promoted to institution security manager at Powder River. He served as acting superintendent since McLay’s promotion.

position of Institution Security Manager at PRCF. During this time, he intermittently assumed responsibilities for all management roles at the facility, including serving as Acting Superintendent over the past several months.

Clark looks forward to continuing his collaboration with internal and external stakeholders and is committed to supporting staff in the outstanding work they do every day.

In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, hunting, fishing, and officiating basketball.

Powder River, at 3600 13th St. in northwest Baker City, opened in November 1989.

Powder River’s official capacity now is 286 inmates.

The prison employs about 100 people — 80 Department of Corrections employees and about 20 from New Directions Northwest in the treatment program.

Inmates who complete the program can qualify for early release.

Inmates are either sent to Powder River because their sentence is relatively short, or because they’re nearing the end of a longer incarceration. Most inmates spend two years or less at Powder River.

Most are from west of the Cascades, and when they finish their sentences they are released in their home communities, not in Baker City.