State bans access to Green Hill School; Association of Police Chiefs says move is “totally unacceptable”

By Mitchell Roland / [email protected]

The Green Hill School juvenile detention center in Chehalis will temporarily close admissions until the facility reaches a “sustainable size” of occupancy, the state Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCFY) announced Friday afternoon.

DCYF says it could take months to resolve the overcrowding. The move comes five years after the passage of the Youth Justice Act on 25 took effect, allowing some offenders to serve their sentences in youth rehabilitation even after they reach adulthood.

“Having too many young people crammed into a small space can lead to behavioral problems and limit the opportunity for therapeutic rehabilitation,” DCYF Secretary Ross Hunter said in a statement on Friday. “This was not sustainable. Our facilities must be safe, therapeutic and functional.”

Hunter informed juvenile, adult and tribal courts across Washington in a letter that DCYF would stop admitting children at Green Hill and Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie. Although this move does not mean that current inmates will be released, Hunter wrote that this happened after a “population increase” led to a “deteriorating and dangerous situation” in the facilities.

“During this suspension, all existing contract provisions related to the initiation of new recordings will be put on hold,” Hunter wrote. “Other contract provisions, including payment amounts, will remain in effect.”

Instead of being sent to Green Hill or Echo Glen, newly convicted offenders remain in custody in county detention centers, with the department providing financial support, according to DCYF.

In a statement Friday, Steven D. Strachan, executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, said law enforcement agencies across Washington state had been notified of the order.

“The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) is working with a DCYF request to notify law enforcement agencies across Washington of the suspension of intake,” Strachan said. “At the same time, WASPC is urging the state to immediately address this issue through any necessary executive or legislative action. Simply stopping intake of juveniles convicted through due process of law for often very violent crimes is completely unacceptable. Victims of crime need to know that offenders will remain in custody.”

According to Hunter, Green Hill’s population has increased from 150 residents in 2023 to 240 residents in June 2024, which is 30% above capacity, and the facility experienced significant growth after state law allowed some lower-level offenders to serve their sentences at the facility.

When two Chronicle reporters toured Green Hill in late March, a spokesman said the facility housed more than 200 residents, which went beyond “best practices.”

“And I think that’s one of the realities that we’re grappling with and starting to unravel what that means both from an infrastructure standpoint – so you see some of the security changes coming at a time of aging populations, where more visitors are coming, different types of visitors, spouses and others will be visiting, older children,” Allison Krutsinger, DCYF’s director of public affairs, told the Chronicle in March.

During the tour, Krutsinger said the agency would likely make further recommendations on how to fund infrastructure improvements.

State officials previously attributed the increase in numbers to the “JR to 25” law, which took effect in June 2019. The law, which Governor Jay Inslee touted as a way to reduce recidivism, required a “fundamental change in operational and facility planning” at juvenile detention centers, an Inslee spokesperson previously told The Chronicle.

“This situation is largely self-inflicted. The problem of overcrowding in youth rehabilitation centres has been known for some time and by failing to take responsibility for the accommodation of offenders, the state is putting the public at even greater risk,” Strachan said.

Strachan said the state should consider transferring juvenile inmates to the custody of the Department of Corrections and placing them in adult prisons.

JR to 25 took effect in July 2019, months before COVID-19 restrictions slowed admissions at youth and adult facilities across the state, Krutsinger previously told The Chronicle. During the pandemic, Green Hill School housed between 120 and 140 residents.

According to DCYF, the department has deployed contracted security personnel at both facilities and additional staff from headquarters in Green Hill to supplement the housing units with trained personnel.

In addition to the increase in visitor numbers, both facilities have seen a number of high-profile cases of staff misconduct and other safety violations in recent years.

Seven inmates – including several convicted of violent crimes such as murder, assault and robbery – escaped from Echo Glen in May 2023. The seven were arrested within days in Western Washington.

In March, a Green Hill prison employee was arrested for allegedly “looking the other way” as two Green Hill prison inmates attacked another inmate in early January. The employee faces one count each of prison riot, abuse of authority and conspiracy to commit fourth-degree assault.

According to Chehalis police, an employee was arrested months earlier for allegedly bringing controlled substances into the facility.

During a tour of the facility in March, former interim director Jason Aldana told The Chronicle that the state had invested in treatment services and infrastructure improvements.

“We’ve had some employees who haven’t met our standards and expectations,” Aldana said. “But that’s not the average employee here. They come here to try to make a difference in people’s lives and make a difference in the lives of our residents and pave their path to success.”

During the visit, Aldana said employees were “fighting and trying to make this the best it can be. Something is going to happen” and vowed transparency.

“We believe in the work we do and our employees fight against it every day,” Aldana told The Chronicle.