Five current and former Green Hill School inmates had preliminary hearings in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday, Jan. 16 for allegedly participating in a fight at the facility in October of 2023.
Five adult inmates at the time, Jose Cisneros, 18, Yovani Cruz, 18, Treyshawn Hilton, 21, Phillip Rogers, 18, Jonell Swan, 19, and three juveniles allegedly began fighting another resident on Oct. 26, according to court documents.
“The group continued fighting, despite commands from staff to stop,” according to court documents, which indicated staff eventually gained control of the situation.
Charges against each of the five adult inmates were filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Dec. 29. Each inmate faces one count of prison riot, which is a class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Hilton faces an additional charge stemming from an unrelated incident at Green Hill in June of 2022, according to court documents.
That charge stems from a series of incident reports Green Hill sent to the Centralia Police Department in September of 2023 after Joint Narcotic Enforcement Team (JNET) detectives executed a search warrant at the facility and seized evidence related to the possession and distribution of illegal controlled substances at Green Hill.
During the execution of the search warrant on Aug. 31, JNET detectives reportedly located lockers where Green Hill staff stored contraband found within their facility dating back to 2017, including illegal controlled substances, cellphones, vape pens, improvised knives, handwritten documents arranging illegal drug transactions, and hand tools, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
In the incident reports sent to the Centralia Police Department in September, Green Hill staff reported that they conducted searches in a living unit “due to observations of inmates passing something between them,” according to court documents. During the searches, Hilton passed through a body scanner and “advised staff he had something on his right hip,” which staff confirmed to be a vape pen.
“The vape pen was secured in Green Hill’s evidence lockers until it was turned over to JNET,” according to court documents.
Hilton was charged Dec. 6 with possession of a controlled substance while in a state correctional facility.
Arraignment hearings are scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 18.
