Rantz: Three quarters of Green Hill School juvenile detention facility houses adults, not teens

Oct 1, 2024, 5:55 PM

Green Hill School in Chehalis. (Photo courtesy of Washington Department of Youth and Family Services)

(Photo courtesy of Washington Department of Youth and Family Services)

Talk Show Host and Columnist at Seattle Red AM 770

Roughly three quarters of the population at the Green Hill School, a boys’ juvenile detention facility, are actually adults between 18 and 25 thanks to Democrat-backed legislation that is failing everyone involved.

Of the 207 juvenile inmates housed in the Chehalis facility, 152 are between 18 and 25 years old as of August 2024. The majority of the inmates committed felony robbery (37%), followed by murder/manslaughter (19%), assault (18%), burglary (11%), and rape/rape of a child (6%). These are already hardened criminals, some with gang connections.

Though the inmates committed serious offenses and many will eventually be transferred to adult prison at 25, these inmates are housed with vulnerable, criminal teens who’s progress may be stymied due to influence of older inmates they may look up to. This is by design.

Why do adults get housed in juvenile detention centers?

Democrats allowed juvenile detention facilities to house criminals up to the age of 25 with Senate Bill 6160, which was passed in 2018.

Prior to this law, juveniles convicted in adult court for serious crimes would often be transferred to adult facilities once they turned 18. SB 6160 changed that by allowing youth offenders to stay in juvenile detention facilities until they reach the age of 25, as long as they were under 18 when they committed their crime. Additionally, violent crimes that used to be the exclusive jurisdiction of adult courts for 16- and 17-year-old suspects were mandated to juvenile court, including robbery 1, drive by shooting and any violent offense when the juvenile was armed with a firearm.

The law’s critics argue it creates safety concerns, mixing older offenders with younger juveniles, while supporters claim it allows more age-appropriate rehabilitation for individuals whose brains are still developing. Indeed, in August, there were 85 reported acts of aggression (which includes assault, fight, threats of violence, serious resident disturbance) and 64 drug-related incidents at the Green Hill School.

Democrats’ intention behind the law change was to keep younger offenders in an environment focused more on rehabilitation than punishment, aiming to reduce recidivism rates. But there are serious flaws to their approach.

Green Hill is mired in controversies

SB 6160 was supposed to mandate protections for younger children in the custody of Juvenile Rehabilitation from older youth confined in its facilities. The legislature specifically noted the protections were necessary “to reduce potential risks of victimization and negative influences.” But this hasn’t occurred. Moreover, Green Hill School has become a mid-tier prison for 18 to 25-year-olds, given it houses only a handful of actual juveniles. But those handful of juveniles are at particular risk.

From 2020 to 2024, Green Hill School faced multiple controversies, primarily around safety concerns due to increased incidents of violence and drug use, with older inmates influencing younger juveniles in the facility. Drugs are rampant and inmates routinely get into serious fights. On September 22, for example, a large-scale fight broke out among 19 inmates after “a group of young people ran across the campus and engaged in a physical altercation with another group,” according to an internal memo obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. Employees were assaulted during the fight.

Additionally, the facility has been marred in scandal. In July, a staff member was fired and arrested for allegedly having a relationship with a then-inmate while also bringing contraband into the facility. Another staffer was arrested for allegedly trying to start a prison riot. Before that, a guard was arrested and charged for allegedly accepting bribes to bring contraband into the facility.

Why is it a bad idea to house adult inmates with teens?

The 18 to 25-year-olds in these facilities aren’t naïve teenagers who made minor mistakes — they’re convicted of serious, violent crimes that almost certainly did not suddenly start but have been ongoing since they were in their early teens. These are hardened criminals, many of whom have committed murder, robbery and rape. Putting them in the same space as much younger, impressionable juveniles is essentially creating a breeding ground for more dangerous behaviors.

The idea that someone in their mid-twenties, convicted of serious felonies, is somehow more “age-appropriate” for juvenile detention is absurd. Washington is mixing violent offenders with younger kids who are supposed to be in a system focused on their rehabilitation. Instead, they’re being exposed to older, more seasoned criminals who they might look up to as role models, especially in environments where there’s already rampant aggression and drug use.

It’s one thing to talk about the science of brain development, but it’s another to ignore the hard truth: older offenders pose a threat to the safety and development of younger inmates. And the numbers don’t lie — incidents of violence and drug use at Green Hill School are proof that this approach isn’t just a failure; it’s dangerous. By trying to “save” these older criminals, we’re putting our most vulnerable kids at risk.

Why not offer the same rehab-focus on 18 to 25-year-old inmates (and those older than that) in adult prison? We should focus on rehab for any adult who will leave state custody at the end of their sentence. It offers a societal benefit that they’re able to better themselves so they don’t recommit crimes once released. And if they’re already headed to adult jail at the age of 25, it makes even less sense to temporarily house them with younger teens. It’s not worth the risk that they pose to younger inmates.

Once again, progressive policy sacrifices common sense for ideology, and it’s the juveniles who are paying the price.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, Instagram and Facebook.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jasonrantz