Juvenile rehabilitation leaders were banking on changes to state law to relieve an overcrowded and chaotic system that's left youth and staff to fend for themselves.
As the legislative session nears an end, those changes have largely failed to materialize. Bills that lawmakers hoped would stanch the heavy flow of youth to the state's two juvenile detention centers and relieve overcrowding failed to pass out of the House last week. The fizzling out of major fixes to the system drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike, some of whom called the bills' demise a "moral failure."
At the Green Hill School in Chehalis, which can safely operate with around 180 young men and boys, the population has stood above 220, sometimes 240, for over a year. The medium-maximum youth prison houses young men and boys aged 17-25, and the percentage of the adult population has grown in recent years to encompass the majority of its residents. That's due to a 2018 law that allows youth sentenced in adult court for crimes they committed under the age of 18 to remain in juvenile rehabilitation until they hit 25, instead of transferring to an adult prison.
As the population at Green Hill has risen, so has the number of headlines coming out of the facility: youth are spending nearly entire days in cells that don't have sinks or toilets; large fights are breaking out, leading to staff and residents getting injured; residents are overdosing from contraband drugs; and prosecutors are pursuing charges against staff members.
Leaders of the Department of Children, Youth and Families were anxiously awaiting legislators to pass two bills in particular: Senate bills 5296 and 5278, which approached the situation from different ends.
Before incarcerating someone, SB 5296, sponsored by Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Auburn, would have required courts to find that a juvenile needs to be in detention instead of in a community-based placement and expanded eligibility for juvenile disposition alternatives. The aim of the bill was to prevent young people from entering the system — and entering Green Hill — unless necessary.
SB 5278, sponsored by Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, would have addressed what happens to people after they are incarcerated. It required that DCYF develop rules for how many people can safely be inside a juvenile detention center and begin planning how to manage the population once it reaches 90% of that safe capacity, including moving people to adult prison under certain conditions.
The two bills were a package deal, said Wilson, who chairs the Senate Human Services Committee.
"People are very, very willing to move kids from our (juvenile rehabilitation) system into the adult system," Wilson said. "They are not willing to figure out what we need to do to invest, to keep kids from going there in the first place."
On Thursday, Braun released a statement saying Democrats in the House "fumbled a critical opportunity to alleviate dangerous overcrowding."
Braun said allowing people 18 and older to stay in juvenile detention contributed to violence and other issues at Green Hill, and that adults should be housed with the Department of Corrections.
"A staff member (at Green Hill) recently required medical attention from accidental exposure to fentanyl smuggled into the facility, and it's not the first time it's happened," Braun said in the statement. "I'm told the average new hire lasts less than a month. House Democrats turned their backs on the situation — on a real solution."
Over two dozen House Democrats signed on to an open letter addressed to incarcerated youth and community justice advocates, calling the inaction on Wilson's bill a "moral failure."
"By not taking meaningful steps to address the crisis of youth incarceration, we have turned away from solutions grounded in care, equity, and common sense," the letter stated.
Rep. Steve Bergquist, who chairs the House Early Learning and Human Services Committee — which bills 5296 and 5278 went through — said the legislation was not cohesive enough and needed to be improved. Bergquist also signed on to the letter sent by several House Democrats, where they stated their intention to build out the "framework envisioned by (the bills)" before the next session.
"I think, you know, people on one side might have had an issue with one bill, the other side with the other," Bergquist said. "And I think we just need more time to be able to work through those concerns and figure out how to come out the other side with a little more cohesive legislation."
The Legislature has bought itself time to resolve those issues, Bergquist said, noting the passage of other bills that provide some relief.
For example, House Bill 1815 allows young people who pleaded or were found guilty of a prison riot offense in the last five years to vacate their convictions and seek resentencing. That bill and another concerning the powers of the family and children's ombudsman are awaiting action from Gov. Bob Ferguson.
On Tuesday, Ferguson signed into law a bill that affects youth who are diverted from incarceration.
Bergquist also pointed to the planned launch of a facility dubbed Harbor Heights, a 48-bed center that will relocate some men from Green Hill.
On Thursday, DCYF Secretary Tana Senn sent a letter to budget chairs asking them to repurpose the approximately $6 million allotted over the next two years for the failed bills and use the money to alleviate the situation at Green Hill. Senn wrote she is "deeply concerned that the failure of these bills passing means there are no policy solutions to address the severe overcrowding and unsafe conditions at Green Hill School."
Senn's letter states the money would be used to fully launch Harbor Heights instead of slowly moving people there; invest in more security and staff at Green Hill; pay for phones and tablets residents could use to call family and access education; and establish pilot contracts with two counties to house young people who are sentenced to less than 90 days in juvenile detention.
The road to balancing the deficit for the 2025-27 biennium has not been an easy one. Bills that required large amounts of money proved difficult to advance. But juvenile rehabilitation was an area in the Senate that didn't see reductions, Wilson said.
A spokesperson for Sen. June Robinson, the Senate budget chair, said negotiations for juvenile rehabilitation appropriations are ongoing.
But money won't solve everything, Wilson said.
"Money doesn't change the fact that we have got to figure out what it is and how it is we serve and resource and provide support to young people and families."
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