State Advisory Council on Juvenile Justice calls on Inslee to fire child welfare director

Washington State’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee has called on Governor Jay Inslee to fire Department of Children, Youth and Families Director Ross Hunter after the agency decided to suspend admissions of children to two state juvenile correctional facilities due to overcrowding.

In a press release, the Washington State Partnership Council on Juvenile Justice attributed its decision to “the increasing mismanagement of the Department of Children, Youth and Families” that has led to the current crisis, undermined trust in the agency and caused serious harm to the children and youth in its care.

Wednesday’s letter to Inslee also demands a public apology from the governor and department leadership for the agency’s July 12 decision to transfer 43 young men between the ages of 21 and 25 from Green Hill School in Chehalis, one of the state’s youth correctional facilities, to an adult prison.

The state advisory council called the decision – which was overturned by a Thurston County Superior Court judge after the men had already been transferred – an “egregious violation of rights.”

“It is our responsibility to recognize the failure of DCYF leadership and recommend that Secretary Ross Hunter be removed from his role as head of the agency,” the state advisory panel’s letter to Inslee said. “We urgently request a meeting with you to discuss this matter and the Partnership Council’s position.”

The letter is the latest in a series of criticisms of Ross Hunter’s leadership, including recent calls for his resignation from two Washington lawmakers – one of whom, Democratic Rep. Mari Leavitt of University Place, is a member of the state advisory panel. The panel’s members also include Democratic Sen. Noel Frame of Seattle and leading representatives from Washington courts, districts and advocacy groups.

Inslee said several hours after sending the letter on Wednesday that he had not seen it and had not responded to the council’s call for Hunter’s release, saying he was “focused on responding to this massive tsunami” of people sentenced to juvenile detention.

According to the governor’s office, the number of young people sentenced this year has increased by 60% compared to 2023. According to the Department of Children, Youth and Families, Green Hill is currently overcrowded by 60 people, with 240 residents.

“I’m focused on helping the department build its capacity as quickly as possible so we can provide these services to these people,” Inslee said at an event celebrating the paid family leave program in Washington. He left before the Standard could finish asking whether Hunter should stay on as the department’s director.

Henry McGordon, chairman of the Juvenile Justice Council, expressed hope that the governor would take the concerns raised in the letter seriously.

“I think the governor and anyone he commissions or works with – as far as DCYF leadership goes – has an opportunity to make sure that this situation is addressed and remedied and that this doesn’t happen again,” McGordon said. “We need systems that don’t fail youth, and we need to make sure that beyond the lessons learned, we strengthen existing systems, and we’re confident we can do that.”

The Department of Children, Youth and Families did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but told The Standard on July 26 that the department was focused on “ensuring the safety of the young people we care for and the staff who care for them.”

“Igniting the fire of injustice”

Young adults are allowed to live in Green Hill under a 2018 law often referred to as “JR to 25” or “Juvenile Rehabilitation to 25.” This law allows young people convicted in adult court for crimes they committed under the age of 18 to remain in juvenile detention until their 25th birthday. If convicted after their 18th birthday, young people who committed crimes as minors can also remain in juvenile detention.

When Inslee set the juvenile sentencing age at 25, Washington was seen as a national leader in juvenile justice reform. The law was designed to comply with research showing that youths transferred to adult prisons were more likely to reoffend after release than those who remained in the juvenile system.

“We ask that you not allow JR to 25 – one of the most progressive pieces of legislation ever to cross your desk and which you approved with your signature – to become fuel in the fire of injustice,” the letter states.

Juveniles at Green Hill feel “betrayed” by the department’s actions, and at least one of them was “illegally transferred between Green Hill and the adult prison” twice, according to the letter. The youth at Green Hill also lost belongings as a result of the transfer, and some were participating in educational and other programs, the letter says. The department is being asked to restore enrollment and any privileges the transferred youths lose due to a “waiting period.”

In statements made to the Partnership Council by the transferred men, they stated that they felt unsafe at Green Hill and were traumatised by the transfer.

“It feels like a broken promise, someone you thought believed in you ruining your progress,” said one young man. “You have to be mentally prepared for prison, and the consequences of being denied due process hurt. I had a plan, as did others who have been through this.”

In the letter, the state advisory board alleges that agency leadership has failed to address staffing shortages, overcrowding and poor conditions, and criticizes the agency’s “delayed implementation” of a 2021 law that allows eligible youth to serve the final 18 months of their sentence outside of a youth correctional facility while wearing an electronic monitoring device.

The board is also calling on Inslee to establish an advisory council to select an interim leader and commit to a “detailed plan” to fix the system’s short- and long-term problems.

Growing frustration with Hunter’s leadership

The Partnership Council joins a chorus of frustration with the leadership of the Department of Children, Youth and Families that includes the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs and the Washington Association of Counties, which are expected to file a lawsuit challenging the admissions suspension in the coming days.

A July 11 letter from the Association of Superior Court Judges and the Washington Association of Juvenile Court Administrators said it was “unacceptable” that the agency decided to suspend student enrollment without consulting Superior Court judges or giving them “prior notice.” The judges’ association also said the decision to suspend student enrollment would have “significant and potentially harmful consequences” and that the “current crisis was foreseeable and avoidable.”

In a July 19 response, Hunter apologized for the lack of advance notice and said that Green Hill’s overcrowding “has resulted in numerous large-scale fights, the introduction of contraband, prolonged curfews due to inadequate staffing, poor programming, and the inability to meet the facility’s core rehabilitation and therapy mission.”

“In hindsight, my actions were too abrupt and I did not adequately consider the entire juvenile justice system,” Hunter wrote. “I made optimization decisions that considered only the impact of the part of the system that I administer.”

“I have no intention of re-creating the same problem in Echo Glen,” he added, referring to the state’s other youth correctional facility, which houses boys ages 11 to 17 and girls and women ages 12 to 25.