(The Center Square) – Families of incarcerated youth and juvenile justice advocates are speaking out against Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee’s recent announcement regarding plans for a new juvenile rehabilitation center.
Last week, Inslee announced a proposal to open a new juvenile rehabilitation center at the Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen.
This comes as another facility in Chehalis is dealing with a mass influx of inmates.
Green Hill School is one of the most crowded facilities within the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families. It has increased its population by 60% since 2023.
Inslee said the new DCYF facility could serve up to 48 men between the ages of 18 and 25 and that adding capacity to the juvenile rehabilitation continuum is necessary to mitigate overcrowding at Green Hill School.
Inslee added that resuming education and programming for incarcerated youth can only occur once the overcrowding situation is addressed.
Juvenile justice advocacy groups Team Child and KidsAreKids held a virtual press conference on Tuesday, in which parents challenged Inslee’s reasoning for moving youth to a third facility in Aberdeen.
Parents said that overcrowding is not the biggest issue, but rather a lack of food, sanitation and mental health services.
One anonymous parent of an incarcerated young person at Green Hill School said they were deeply concerned and hurt by the narrative projected onto families and youth at the facility during Inslee’s press conference last week.
“The state’s mismanagement of Washington’s [juvenile rehabilitation] system has once again been blamed on Washington’s youth and us as their families,” the parent said. “I’m tired of the rhetoric attempting to divide our communities [and] I’m tired of the continued attempts to deflect the spotlight away from the state’s responsibilities in rehabilitating our children.”
The proposed center would be located where the former intensive management unit was held within the Stafford Creek Corrections Center.
Team Child Policy and Advocacy Director Karen Pillar said the facility was one that has been used for solitary confinement for adult prisoners. This means the buildings were confining and do not have a cafeteria, gym or classroom space.
“We have a lot of questions about how you would ever repurpose the facility for the things that they proposed,” Pillar said.
Pillar mentioned that plans call for the Emerging Adult Leaders Program to have an automotive program for youth at Aberdeen facility. Pillar questions where an automotive shop would be placed within a former solitary confinement unit.
Inslee’s press release from Nov. 25 stated that common areas in the facility have room for educational and recreational programming, along with outdoor areas featuring green space, communal gardens, and opportunities for recreation.
According to a letter from DCYF sent to Green Hill School staff and families, in order to be eligible to transfer into the new Emerging Adults Leadership Program at the new facility, young men must be over the age of 18, completed a high school level education, be in medium custody unit, and have stable mental health.
The soonest the new program would be operational is February 2025.