A former Green Hill School employee accused of having sexual relations with an inmate pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree custodial sexual misconduct and two counts of second-degree introduction of contraband in Lewis County Superior Court Sept. 10.
Michelle M. Goodman, 32, of Centralia, was previously charged with three counts of first-degree custodial misconduct in October 2024. The Barr plea entered on her behalf Wednesday allowed her to plead guilty to just one count of first-degree sexual misconduct, along with the reduced counts of introducing contraband.
First-degree sexual misconduct is considered a class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines. The second-degree introduction of contraband is considered a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
Goodman awaits a sentencing hearing scheduled for Dec. 10, following a presentence investigation to be conducted by the Washington state Department of Corrections.
Washington state law asserts that “a person is guilty of introducing contraband in the second degree if he or she knowingly and unlawfully provides contraband to any person confined in a detention facility or secure facility under chapter 71.09 RCW with the intent that such contraband be of assistance in an escape or in the commission of a crime.”
In her written guilty plea, Goodman admitted to having “sexual intercourse” with an inmate she had “supervisory control over” while serving as a corrections officer at Green Hill.
According to charging documents filed by the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office, security footage from the Green Hill facility showed Goodman and an inmate meeting in the staff locker area on Jan. 28 and Jan. 29, 2024. On the first occasion, the two were reportedly in the locker room for roughly nine minutes. The second occasion was described as brief.
On Oct. 16, 2024, the inmate’s civil attorney presented 10 photographs to Chehalis detectives, some of which showed Goodman providing oral sex to his then 23-year-old client. Two of the photographs showed possible sexual intercourse, and Goodman was seen in “at least three different outfits, indicating at least three different incidents of sexual contact,” according to the charging documents.
Several of the photographs appeared to place the two inside a staff bathroom at the facility.
Goodman was previously arrested in March 2024 as part of a separate case for allegedly failing to intervene when two Green Hill inmates attacked another inmate in early January of that year.
She ultimately pleaded guilty to reduced charges, specifically one count of misdemeanor abuse of office, on July 30 in Lewis County Superior Court. She was sentenced to 364 days in jail with 363 days suspended and one day credit for time served.
A second felony charge of third-degree accomplice liability assault was dismissed as part of her plea agreement.
“On or about January 6, 2024, I was a public servant at a correctional institution known as Green Hill School in Lewis County,” Goodman wrote in her guilty plea. “With the intent to deprive another of a lawful right or privilege, I did intentionally refrain from performing a duty imposed on me by law by allowing an assault to occur within Green Hill School.”
Goodman’s sentence was officially suspended for 24 months. In other words, she can avoid further jail time — at least pertaining to the earlier case — assuming she commits no new criminal violations and maintains no contact with the detention facility.
