Following reported misconduct at Green Hill School, a search of the facility by local law enforcement and calls for additional investigation, a spokesperson for Gov. Jay Inslee said Monday the governor’s office takes “any allegation that agency personnel are engaged in illegal conduct or are impeding any kind of criminal investigation” seriously.
“Corrections facilities have been hit as hard by the fentanyl crisis as many communities have,” spokesperson Jaime Smith told The Chronicle Monday. “(Green Hill School) leaders are continually looking for ways to strengthen policies to detect and hold accountable any illegal or inappropriate actions by staff or the incarcerated youth.”
The response from the governor’s office followed a weekend statement from Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, asking for additional investigation into Green Hill. In the statement, Braun said “mismanagement plagues many of the governor’s agencies.”
“Finding out they have been holding onto 114 bags of drugs, drug paraphernalia and weapons in violation of state law is deeply disturbing,” Braun said of Green Hill. “Each one represents a possible felony against whoever brought it into the facility. Tucking them away in a laundry room demonstrates a staggering level of incompetence.”
In recent months, local law enforcement have repeatedly asked Inslee to direct the Washington state Attorney General’s Office to investigate Green Hill, including in a KING 5 News story that aired Friday.
“The senator is welcome and encouraged to learn more about the policies and procedures for handling contraband at youth correction facilities, in Washington and around the country,” Smith wrote in an email.
According to Smith, the facility administrator at Green Hill has spoken with representatives from the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET) “frequently, on the order of 5-15 times per month” for the past four years.
“These include consultations about potential investigation intelligence, reviewing contraband or requesting canine searches,” Smith wrote.
In August, JNET served a search warrant at Green Hill School, the state’s maximum security facility for juvenile offenders, and seized evidence related to the possession and distribution of illegal controlled substances, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
“Given the regular communications between (Green Hill School) and JNET, the interestingly-timed sensationalizing of one incident by a local police chief about issues accessing evidence is unfortunate,” Smith said Monday.
Following a May 30 letter to the governor’s office, signed by the Centralia and Chehalis city mayors and chiefs of police, Taylor K. Wonhoff, deputy general counsel from the governor’s office, wrote on Aug. 3 that the office “respectfully declined further investigation,” while noting the state had “implemented changes to its security practices including the use of full body scanners and bag scanners.”
In the Aug. 3 letter, Wonhoff wrote that Green Hill increased employee screening protocol and enhanced employee training to include counseling and coaching skills.
“We will continue to take allegations seriously, and have confidence that JNET is helping ensure all investigations are completed with the highest degree of integrity and thoroughness,” Smith said Monday.
The letter to the governor’s office included a series of recent events at Green Hill, though it said “we believe many other failures are regularly occurring in this and other juvenile justice facilities.”
Following the overdose of an inmate in November 2022, four student inmates were arrested in November 2022 and over 1,000 suspected fentanyl pills were seized. The inmate was transported to Harborview Medical Center for lifesaving care.
On June 8, 2022, a recently released Green Hill inmate allegedly stole a vehicle from a Green Hill employee in Seattle, drove it to Centralia and shot at a house, according to previous reporting by The Chronicle.
In January 2022 four people, including two former Green Hill inmates and a Green Hill security guard from the same housing unit, were arrested for alleged involvement in three drive-by shootings in Cowlitz County.
