Green Hill School was hit with three safety violations Aug. 28 following an inspection from the state Department of Labor and Industries. The investigation began in response to an employee complaint regarding staff exposure to health hazards.
According to documents pertaining to the inspection, Green Hill School was assessed a total penalty of $2,754 for three Washington Administrative Code (WAC) violations.
The juvenile detention facility was given 15 days to appeal the citation.
The first citation, which was officially deemed a “serious violation,” stated that the employer, in this case the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), doing business as Green Hill School, “did not ensure an exposure evaluation was conducted to determine or reasonably estimate employee exposure to smoke.”
The citation further stated that “residents smoke unknown contraband and light unknown contraband on fire causing employees to experience symptoms of exposure. The employer did not conduct an exposure assessment to determine if employees are exposed over regulatory limits to contaminates including but not limited to: carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, total particulate, (and) respirable particulate.”
The citation added that the employer did not determine the amount of fine particulate matter that employees were exposed to and noted that “exposure to hazards of this nature can lead to serious injuries involving permanent disability, death, or chronic irreversible illness.”
The assessed penalty for the violation was $2,754.
The remaining violations were considered “general violations" and came with no assessed penalty. The first general violation stated that the employer “did not ensure to establish, supervise, and enforce rules that effectively prohibited narcotics in the workplace.”
The second general violation stated that the employer “did not ensure that each container of hazardous chemicals in the workplace is labeled, tagged or marked, in accordance with this standard.”
As part of the citation process, the school was issued a certification of abatement form to document how the hazards have been corrected. The violation pertaining to the labeling of hazardous materials was said to have been corrected during the inspection process.
The due date for the abatement was listed as Nov. 29, 2025. Additional penalties are possible if the school does not provide written confirmation that the hazards have been corrected.
The citations are part of larger, longstanding concerns with the overall safety of the facility as it pertains to both residents and employees.
Green Hill School is the state’s largest juvenile prison. The facility contains 180 beds and is considered a medium/maximum juvenile facility, according to the DCYF.
In 2024, 43 men were transferred from Green Hill to an adult prison due to overcrowding. They were later sent back to the facility on a judge’s order.
According to The Seattle Times, former DCYF Secretary Ross Hunter and former Green Hill superintendent Jason Aldana now face a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court regarding the attempted moving of the 43 men. The state reportedly faces a similar lawsuit.
On July 30 of this year, a former Green Hill School employee named Michelle Goodman pleaded guilty to reduced charges, specifically misdemeanor abuse of office, after being accused of allowing the assault of an inmate.
Goodman was also charged with three counts of first-degree custodial sexual misconduct in a separate case. A change of plea hearing is set for Sept. 10 in Lewis County Superior Court.
On July 23, Chehalis City Councilmember Kevin Carns, commenting in The Chronicle, called Green Hill School “a revolving door for violent offenders, adult criminals masquerading as ‘youth’ and unchecked chaos — placing an unsustainable burden on our community.”
“Our police officers and firefighters respond to calls from Green Hill constantly,” Carns wrote in the column. “Drugs are flowing through the facility. Assaults — on staff and on other detainees — are disturbingly common.”
In June, a total of six Green Hill School residents appeared in Lewis County Superior Court on consecutive days for charges that included possession of controlled substances, assault and intimidating a public servant.
Other charges against Green Hill residents have followed in the months since.
According to the DCYF website, Green Hill students can earn their high school diploma or GED while living as a resident. High school graduates can enroll at Centralia College or Evergreen State College. Vocational programs are available and include welding, auto shop and hair design.
Jennifer Redman currently serves as the juvenile facility’s interim superintendent.
