It’s been over a year since the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET) conducted a search at Green Hill School, Washington’s maximum security juvenile rehabilitation and detention center. During that search, officers found approximately 1,100 fentanyl pills, along with other contraband, exposing the severe issues plaguing the facility.
According to the Centralia Police Department’s press release, multiple overdoses had occurred among the residents at Green Hill, and, disturbingly, these were being handled “internally.”
It’s shocking that none of the youths lost their lives during this period.
I am deeply concerned that despite the shocking discoveries made last year, almost nothing has changed.
Over the past year, several staff members have been arrested for offenses ranging from sexual misconduct and abuse of residents to selling them drugs. One staff member was even arrested for turning her back while a resident was being assaulted by others.
In addition, at least four more staff members have been arrested over the past year for dealing drugs to the residents and engaging in inappropriate sexual misconduct while on the job. Numerous residents have also been arrested for narcotics-related charges, highlighting the ongoing crisis within the facility.
Washington state Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, is 100% right to demand a thorough investigation into the facility and its practices. His continued calls for an investigation and reforms are crucial in addressing the systemic issues at Green Hill School.
Sen. Braun’s efforts to push for accountability and significant changes are essential to ensuring that the facility can fulfill its intended role in rehabilitating youth, rather than perpetuating a cycle of crime and abuse.
In recent years, the school has seen staff members arrested for sexual misconduct with residents, an employee indicted by the FBI for smuggling narcotics into the facility, and the settlement of a multi-million dollar lawsuit related to sexual abuse at Green Hill. There was even a case where a staff member sold a firearm to a resident, which was later used in a drive-by shooting.
And yet, despite all these incidents, meaningful reform still hasn’t happened.
The institution is supposed to be a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate youth before they enter adult prisons. But with the level of illegal activity continuing unabated, rehabilitation is simply not happening.
How can we expect these young people to turn their lives around when they are being exposed to and addicted to fentanyl, often provided by those who are supposed to be keeping them safe?
The youth at Green Hill are being let down, and their chance at rehabilitation is being stolen from them.
Green Hill School was meant to give troubled youth hope for the future and help them build a better life. It’s time for real action and comprehensive reform, not more empty promises.
Bo D. Rupert
Centralia
