The Chehalis Police Department has two detectives dedicated to investigating incidents at the state-run Green Hill School juvenile detention facility and might need additional assistance from neighboring agencies, Chehalis City Manager Stacy Denham said Monday.
While the department receives funds from Washington state to help cover the costs, Denham said the agency has considered calling in the Centralia Police Department and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office “as things continue to escalate.”
“Four detectives for 200, 250 people, when your national average for a thousand people is two, that’s a huge markup and very expensive,” Denham said.
Denham made the comments during a legislative roundtable meeting that included lawmakers from the 19th and 20th districts and a collection of city and county officials as preparation continues for a legislative session where youth detention facilities across the state will likely again be a hot-button issue.
“Just to be plain, we weren’t going to talk about Green Hill too much, but the policy’s not workable and they haven’t approached pragmatic leadership that would make bad policy marginally workable so we’re in the mess we’re in,” Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, said during the meeting. “I expect we’re going to see a big push this coming session to change the policy to one that’s achievable, and that should have an immediate impact on Green Hill.”
This summer, the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), the state agency that operates the facility, frequently made headlines after it temporarily paused intakes and transferred some inmates to adult facilities. Following legal challenges, the agency later returned to normal operations.
According to DCYF Secretary Ross Hunter, the population at Green Hill increased from 150 residents in 2023 to 240 residents in June 2024, which is 30% above capacity, and the facility saw considerable growth after state law allowed some minor offenders to serve their sentences at the facilities.
Overcrowding at Green Hill School has been cited among the reasons for a rise in crime at the facility, which have included drug possession, assault and other felony charges. As of July 23, 228 aggressive acts have occurred in state juvenile rehabilitation facilities across the state this year.
In August 2023, with Denham leading the Centralia Police Department as chief, the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team served a warrant at Green Hill and seized evidence they alleged was improperly stored.
Though Denham only took over in his new role in June, he has been a longtime critic of the facility. In January, Braun and Denham released a joint statement that claimed Gov. Jay Inslee “minimizes the problems plaguing detention centers around the state, including Green Hill School in Chehalis.”
In response, a spokesperson for the governor told The Chronicle that the remarks were “politically-motivated broadsides” and said the state has a “healthy and collaborative relationship with others locally, including the Chehalis Police Department.”
According to the spokesperson, staff from Green Hill and the Chehalis Police Department developed guidelines last September to turn over evidence and established a process to create comprehensive evidence packets to accompany evidence.
As DCYF transferred 43 residents to the Department of Corrections this summer, Allison Krutsinger, director of public affairs for the agency, said DCYF eyed changes to JR to 25, legislation that sought to reduce recidivism by allowing some offenders to serve their sentences in juvenile rehabilitation even after they become adults.
“We really want to be clear that we don't think JR to 25 is the wrong policy or the wrong law, and it needs to be resourced appropriately, both in physical footprint, recognizing realities of best practice capacities as well as programming and staffing so it can it can do what it is intended and designed to do,” Krutsinger told The Chronicle on July 12.
According to Krutsinger, the department anticipated some funding requests that were “in line with smaller, medium security, flexible security facilities that can exist in a variety of communities.”
The department will also ask for additional funding for “mental health staff, mental health resources” and money for programming and educational opportunities, Krutsinger said.
According to Braun, additional funding alone would not be enough to improve the facility.
“I think you’re going to see investment, but we’ve had investment, we’ve had record investment, especially on the capital side in Green Hill over the last five years,” Braun said Monday. “It’s fundamentally not, in my view, an investment issue. That’s not to say it doesn’t need additional funding, it’s that we have a policy that nobody is able to actually make work, and we’re trying to force it, and we have a whole bunch of problems, as you well know, as a result.”
As the legislative session nears, DCFY has begun planning on two new facilities in Western Washington.
The agency is considering a facility in unincorporated “urban” Pierce County that will have up to 16 beds, which Krutsinger said would allow the department to move toward facilities that “can be more therapeutic in nature, in their environment.”
The facility, she said, would differ from the Naselle Youth Camp in Pacific County, which the Legislature opted to close in the 2022 session over the objection of local lawmakers. When operational, the medium-security facility provided education and treatment for around 80 male offenders.
Earlier this month, the agency announced it was in the “early stages” of planning a new youth detention facility at the Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen, which is managed by the state Department of Corrections.
The soonest residents could be transferred to the facility is January 2025. According to DCYF spokesperson Nancy Gutierrez, the new DCYF-operated facility would utilize already-built structures.
“I want to emphasize that we are very early in the process of exploring this option,” Gutierrez told The Chronicle. “There is no immediate impact and no pending plans to transfer any young people.”
