Students' cognitive ability, the learning environment, and the relevance of the writing assignment influence their writing abilities and engagement in writing instruction. Currently there is a limited amount of knowledge about youths' dispositions to and experiences with writing instruction in juvenile detention centers. The purpose of this study was to address these questions by examining the dispositions towards writing of 12 youth who were in a juvenile detention facility. Two research questions guided this study: (1) What are the writing dispositions of youth in a juvenile detention facility? and (2) Do youth report changes to disposition scale items after participating in a writing workshop, and if so, why? The results suggest that engaging youth in detention centers in writing workshops might improve their dispositions toward writing and their perceptions of themselves as writers.