State moves to open juvenile facility in Aberdeen

The state of Washington plans to open a new, 48-bed juvenile rehabilitation facility in an unutilized building at Stafford Creek Detention Center near Aberdeen by early March, officials said during a tour of the site Wednesday.

“We are moving as go,” said Allison Krutsinger, director of public affairs for the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF). “We are authorized by the governor to move as go. He does fund it in his budget. So we are moving as go with a projected opening date in late February. We are not waiting at this moment for the Legislature.”

Organized by DCYF and the Department of Corrections (DOC), the tour came a day after Gov. Jay Inslee unveiled his 2025 budget proposal, which includes $33 million to fund the facility in the next biennium. The money would fund the costs to prepare the building, which has not been in regular use since 2018, and operate it for two years.

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DCYF has begun the process to staff the facility, which will be manned and operated by DCYF staff.

“This will be a juvenile justice facility,” Inslee said during a press conference announcing the plan in November.

As he prepares to leave office, Inslee visited Green Hill late last month to announce plans for the new facility, which he said comes during a “juvenile crime wave” in Washington, which he said was both “unpredicted and unpredictable.” During the Nov. 25 event, Inslee said juvenile arrests are up 24% in the past year.

For years, the state has struggled to address overcrowding at Green Hill in Chehalis and Echo Glen, a youth detention center near North Bend. With an increase from 150 residents in June 2023 to 240 residents in June 2024 at Green Hill, DCFY temporarily paused intake into the facility earlier this year.

The state resumed entries shortly after following legal challenges, though the facility continues to operate at 30% above capacity.

About an hour before the tour began, DCYF announced new restrictions at Green Hill School, which came after staff “responded to 8 medical emergencies involving contraband” in the last week.

In the announcement, DCFY stated that Green Hill’s population was at 239 as of Tuesday, nearly 60 young people above capacity. DCYF said the population of the facility had “hovered just above the 180 mark” until March when it spiked to 231. Since then, it has not fallen below the 230 mark.

The push to quickly open a new facility, Krutsinger said, was the result of the “continued growth at Green Hill and untenable overcrowding.” According to DCYF, the agency considered roughly a dozen sites over a process that lasted between six and nine months before deciding on Stafford Creek.

“This was the most readily available that could be operationalized the quickest, given the security concerns, the population growth that continues on the Green Hill and Echo Glenn campus,” Krutsinger said.

When operational, residents of the new youth detention center will be largely separated from the rest of the Stafford Creek population. Residents will eat meals in the unit, away from the DOC inmates’ house at the facility.

The residents will be housed in single-bunk units that include a desk, shower and sink.

“Single bunk is something we know is really important in a juvenile rehabilitation space, that emerging adult program. We aren’t able to provide that at Green Hill, as we know,” Krutsinger said.

On Wednesday, crews worked to build a new fence around an outside recreation yard that will be separate from the recreation space used by DOC inmates.

According to Inslee, residents of Green Hill will have the option of transferring once the facility is operational. The facility, he said, would be compliant with the court order that returned 43 inmates back to Green Hill School this summer.

The facility will include a new “juvenile rehabilitation emerging adult leaders” program, which Inslee said would be “unique” in Washington’s system. According to Krutsinger, the facility will host other vocational programs, including an automotive program that will be “done through virtual reality.”

“Again, there are space constraints here,” Krutsinger said. “This campus is smaller than Green Hill’s campus for DCYF. And so, trying to be innovative while being applicable and appropriate.”

While the state plans to open early next year, Krutsinger said staff continues to explore “other options” to address overcrowding concerns.

In July, DCYF announced it was considering opening a 16-bed facility in unincorporated “urban” Pierce County to house young offenders with “severe mental health, behavioral health needs.” The facility, Krutsinger said, is owned by a “private healthcare provider” and talks have not advanced.

“This coming online does not solve the JR population in totality,” Krutsinger said of the Stafford Creek facility. “We will need more capacity in addition. And so we’ll continue to evaluate and look at other options.”

Senate minority leader responds

Hours after the tour, Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, a frequent critic of Inslee’s handling of the facility, said, “The idea that they’re at least acknowledging that there’s a big problem here is, I guess, good.”

“But the idea that we’re going to take a facility that was really built for isolation and turn it into something that would truly execute on the JR to 25 program is, I think, has some shortcomings,” Braun said. “That’s the nicest thing I can say about it.”

Passed in 2018, JR to 25 was legislation that sought to reduce recidivism by allowing some offenders to serve their sentences in juvenile rehabilitation even after they become adults.

“Near as I can tell, we’re going to do one thing right, which is reduce the population at Green Hill and hopefully improve the safety conditions,” Braun said. “But I have no faith that we’re going to send these 40 or 50 individuals over to Stafford Creek and deliver on the promise of JR to 25. We would be better off backing up and saying ‘We got JR to 25 wrong, we were not prepared,’ The current administration, under Governor Inslee, was not prepared to execute on this policy.”

Ahead of the session, Braun said, “there is room to address funding this issue.”

“If we’re going to do this, we’ve got to do it right,” Braun said. “I’m not saying funding for JR to 25 or JR won’t be looked at, but we have to be clear, it’s got to be in the context of a roughly $10 billion deficit.”

High security gates open during a tour of Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen on Wednesday, Dec. 18.

High security gates open during a tour of Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen on Wednesday, Dec. 18.

The sun shines over a recreation area outside of the new youth detention center during a tour of Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen on Wednesday, Dec. 18.

The sun shines over a recreation area outside of the new youth detention center during a tour of Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen on Wednesday, Dec. 18.

Media from across Washington state listen to Allison Krutsinger talk about the plans for relocating juvenile inmates from Green Hill School to Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen on Wednesday, Dec. 18.

Media from across Washington state listen to Allison Krutsinger talk about the plans for relocating juvenile inmates from Green Hill School to Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen on Wednesday, Dec. 18.