8 overdoses highlight WA juvenile inmate crisis
ABDERDEEN, Wash. - In less than two weeks, eight overdoses within Washington’s sole maximum security juvenile rehabilitation center unfolded – highlighting what the state has admitted is an overcrowding crisis.
Overdoses, fights and issues with staff committing crimes have plagued Green Hill over the past year. According to DCYF (WA Department of Children, Youth, and Families), many of the issues that FOX 13 has reported on since last year come down to an unsafe setting created by overcrowding.
On Wednesday, DCYF opened the doors to what they hope is a solution – two new wings at a Department of Corrections facility in Aberdeen, Washington.
On a guided tour with DOC and DCYF staff, FOX 13 got a closer look at two wings within the walls of the Stafford Creek Corrections Center to get a better idea of the agency’s plans.
"We’re here because we know we’re in crisis," DCYF spokesperson Allison Krutsinger said.
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According to Krutsinger, the population at Green Hill was sitting at 239 on Monday. They consider 180 to be a safe operational number, meaning even if they opened the additional units, they’d be above capacity.
"We’ll need additional capacity and will continue to look for other options and work with the legislature to determine what else might be an option," she added.
The money to open the new DCYF space within Stafford Creek is already included in the budget Governor Inslee proposed earlier this week. The agency has been greenlit to move forward with its plan, with visible signs of proof during FOX 13’s visit of the facility, as Department of Corrections inmates were putting up fencing meant to separate the two agency’s footprints within the facility.
A total of 48 beds would be available to DCYF, between two wings – each wing has two floors with half of the cells, or units, on each floor in a given wing. Each unit has its own toilet, sink and small desk.
It’s unclear how quickly DCYF could fill up the space, as it will need to on-board new staff within the Aberdeen area. A hiring event is planned for later this month, with on-boarding for staff typically taking 3-4 weeks.
That staff would have to be separate from DOC, as DCYF has previously found itself in legal trouble when trying to transfer DCYF inmates into adult facilities.
WA juvenile detention crisis forces inmates into adult prisons: ‘I feel betrayed’
Four weeks ago, Caya Lenay was being celebrated by DCYF for earning a degree while behind bars. Now, he’s in an adult prison along with 10 classmates, due to a lack of space in juvenile detention.
Earlier this year, DCYF tried to fix its overpopulation problem at Green Hill by blocking counties from sending its convicts to their facility. That led to a lawsuit, and an agreement to re-open the facility to new inmates.
The next attempt to alleviate the problem involved transferring dozens of juvenile inmates to adult facilities, which was contradictory to laws passed in 2018 that allowed young people convicted of crimes to stay in the juvenile system until age 25. A judge ultimately forced DCYF to return those inmates that didn’t volunteer to stay at adult facilities.
That led to an announcement near Thanksgiving, with Governor Inslee greenlighting a plan to open up space within Stafford Creek – a plan that appears to be nearing completion.
A number of changes are necessary. According to Krutsinger, DCYF plans to "soften" the space with carpeting and furniture so that the newly acquired wings will be similar to the DCYF setting that you see in Green Hill.
However, there is no plan to stop the search for new space. The agency continues to say the ideal location would be smaller, community-based and rehabilitative in nature – traditional incarceration settings provided by Green Hill and Stafford Creek are not what the agency is looking for, but of the roughly dozen facilities that already exist – Stafford Creek posed the best option.
NEW DCYF SECRETARY NAMED
Governor-elect Bob Ferguson announced Wednesday that Tana Senn will lead DCYF beginning in January.
Senn, a Mercer Island Democrat, has a history of working on legislative issues that intersect with DCYF through her time as a state representative for the 41st District.
"Having someone who understands the dynamics, the work we do, and can step into that is helpful," said Krutsinger.
That announcement from Ferguson’s team came as DCYF staff were wrapping up a tour of the Stafford Creek Facility.
It follows news that current Secretary Ross Hunter, an appointee of outgoing Governor Inslee, would step away as the new administration came in.
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Hunter had come under fire from employees, activists and Inslee’s own advisory board that worked on juvenile justice – after a myriad of issues were exposed at Green Hill.
That included questions about why DCYF failed to see population trends heading toward a direction that the agency didn’t consider safe, and why counties didn’t receive any notice when he made the decision to block counties from sending prisoners after convictions in court.
During a sitdown interview with FOX 13 in August, Hunter addressed the calls for him to resign or Inslee to fire him stating: "I came to work yesterday, foused on safety. I came to work for today, focused on safety. I intend to come to work tomorrow, focused on safety."
Asked about his slow reaction in his role as head of DCYF, he said he’d wished he’d done more notification adding: "mea culpa."
Ross Hunter Interview with Matt Smith
The head of Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) is facing growing calls to resign including state legislators, union staff and the governor’s own advisory board on juvenile justice. DCYF Secretary Ross Hunter sat down with FOX 13 to discuss recent actions he’s taken as others question whether he’s the right man for the job.
ONGOING DRUG ISSUES
New restrictions were announced this week at Green Hill following eight medical emergencies in two weeks.
According to DCYF, overdoses involved a synthetic drug that was unaffected by Narcan – a drug used to reverse an opioid overdose. In the past, fentanyl overdoses were reversible by medical intervention – that doesn’t appear to be the case surrounding the latest incidents.
"These drugs mimic some of the symptoms of overdoses but do not respond to Narcan," said Assistant Secretary Felice Upton.
Secretary Hunter said, with the sheer number of residents on campus they can no longer safely monitor everyone within Green Hill.
"We are very concerned about this and feel that something tragic could happen if we don’t address the overcrowding and take aggressive steps to reduce the introduction of contraband."
The latest efforts to reduce contraband being introduced to the population will include increasing the volume of searches, implementing a no contact policy during visitation, and a clear bag policy for all staff and contractors that enter the facility.
STAFFING CONCERNS
A staffing blitz will be needed in order for DCYF to hire the necessary employees to operate the two wings it plans to add within Stafford Creek. A hiring event is already planned for later this week in Grays Harbor County.
Staffing has been an issue for DCYF over the past year, with the challenges of current employees scaring off new hires – while employees that were already working for the state being removed after investigations into wrongdoing.
Earlier this month, Chehalis Police announced that they were investigating two separate incidents involving female employees accused of inappropriate relationships with inmates at Green Hill.
Five other people were arrested prior to those investigations, three of those arrests involved sexual misconduct charges related to inmates.
The latest cases involve Charity Johnson, 37, and Alexa Rain, 26.
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Two weeks after Gov. Inslee proposed a new juvenile rehab center to deal with overcrowding at DCYF's facility in Chehalis, police have announced that two more employees are being investigated.
Krutsinger told FOX 13 that both investigations had been relayed to appropriate authorities prior to the announcement of those arrests, adding: neither had been on campus in months.
Investigators accused Johnson of sending sexually suggestive photographs of herself to an inmate, and taking money in exchange for bringing contraband into the facility.
Rain has avoided contact by investigators, though is accused of sending photographs that were sexual in nature via text to an inmate.
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