State Transfers 43 Inmates From Green Hill School; Gov. Inslee Orders Officials to Consider New Facility

By Mitchell Roland / [email protected]

The Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) has transferred 43 “youth” sentenced to adult sentences to the Department of Corrections (DOC), as DCYF seeks to reduce the facility’s population amid growing safety concerns.

According to DCYF, Gov. Jay Inslee also authorized the agency to “immediately” begin considering options for a “small- to mid-sized secure facility that will more appropriately serve youth with greater behavioral and mental health needs.”

There is no timetable for the opening of the new facility.

“This decision was not made lightly, but the safety risks associated with overcrowded facilities have made our current situation untenable,” DCYF Secretary Ross Hunter said in a statement Friday. “We must prioritize the safety of youth and staff, and it is safer for everyone if we have capacity levels that support rehabilitation.”

The transfer of residents comes after DCYF announced last week that it had suspended admissions to the facility as it seeks to achieve “sustainable population levels.” On Friday, DCYF said the suspension would continue “until safe and sustainable population levels are achieved.”

The move comes five years after the JR at 25 law came into force, which allows some offenders to serve their sentence in a juvenile rehabilitation center even after becoming adults.

According to DCYF, the transferred residents were all men over the age of 21 who had served adult sentences beyond their 25th birthday and who were ultimately transferred to DOC.

“We made this call to protect our staff, our community and the young people we serve, and this was the most equitable way to do it,” Hunter said. “We considered all of the options available to us and had to take action to address the untenable conditions on campus.”

Before the move, Green Hill housed 236 residents, more than the 180 the facility considers “best practice.”

Hunter had previously informed Washington state juvenile, adult and tribal courts in a letter that DCYF would suspend admissions to Green Hill and Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie. While the move does not mean current inmates will be released, Hunter wrote that it came after a “population surge” caused a “deteriorating and dangerous situation” at the facilities.

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

In a statement last week, Steven D. Strachan, executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, said the arrangement was “totally unacceptable.”

DCYF is preparing legislative proposals to amend the state’s 25-year-old JR program, which took effect in June 2019 and was touted as a way to reduce recidivism by Inslee.

Chronicle reporters will sit down with DCYF representatives Friday afternoon to discuss the move and the potential new facility.