(The Center Square) – On Tuesday, the Washington State Legislature heard about two bills concerning juvenile incarceration and alternatives to confinement.
The sponsors of each bill have different objectives, but both deal with the overcrowding issue at Green Hill School in Chehalis, and they have divergent opinions on solutions.
The Center Square asked Senator John Braun, R-Centralia, about the two bills during a media availability event ahead of Tuesday’s public hearing on both bills before the House Early Learning & Human Services Committee.
“The notion that we’re going to reduce sentences for, in some cases, fairly violent crimes is just wrongheaded on many fronts,” Braun said in reference to Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5296, sponsored by Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Federal Way.
Wilson’s bill requires courts to make an independent finding about whether a juvenile offender’s crime is serious enough to warrant being sent to juvenile rehabilitation.
“We have a better bill out there, which actually gives more tools to manage the population in a safer more responsible way,” Braun said.
Braun is the prime sponsor of Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5278, which addresses the overcrowding issue at Green Hill School addressing emergency measures for managing juvenile populations in state juvenile correctional institutions.
In 2018, House Bill 6160 was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor. It allows individuals convicted in adult court for crimes they committed under the age of 18 to be housed in juvenile rehabilitation until they reach 25.
Braun argues that the approach has created serious problems at Green Hill, endangering residents and staff and making it difficult to provide rehabilitation services there.
Braun sponsored Senate Bill 5277 this session to repeal the 2018 state law, but it did not advance.
ESSSB 5278 passed the Senate on a 49-0 vote on March 10 and received mixed testimony during Tuesday’s hearing in the House.
The bill would allow the Department of Children Youth & Families to transfer persons convicted in adult court to the custody of the Department of Corrections “when continued placement of the person in a DCYF facility presents a significant safety risk to others in the facility, and of certain persons when the population of the institution exceeds 105 percent of the rated bed capacity,” according to a summary of the bill.
Four Green Hill residents testified remotely in opposition to the bill.
“I’ve been at Green Hill for seven years, and I’ve seen the ups and downs here. I’ve seen people come here and do their education and do their programs, and I’ve seen people take the negative route,” Caya Lanay said. “We have seen a very big increase in numbers here at Green Hill, and the four youth you see here, we were part of the group that got transferred to DOC, and that was a traumatic experience.”
Lanay was referring to DCYF’s decision last summer to send 43 Green Hill residents, all in their 20s, to DOC in response to the overcrowding situation. A judge said that violated state law and sent them back to Green Hill School.
Christen Ativalu-Ford also spoke in opposition to the bill.
“We’re college graduates who are mentoring here,” he said. “We’ve been working with the administration on change here on how we mentor and change the young life here.”
Committee staff then clarified that the bill expressly prohibits DCYF from sending any residents from Green Hill to DOC if they are complying with mandatory education and other programs, and not causing any trouble at the school.
As for ESSB 5296, Wilson noted that “The bill directs judges to make individual decisions based on the evidence whether total confinement is necessary to protect public safety.”
Judge Cindy Larsen testified “other” on behalf of the Washington State Superior Court Judges Association.
“We generally do support granting judges the ability to use disposition alternatives in more circumstances than are currently available,” she said. However we do strongly request that this committee make sure that this is fully funded and that planning for proper resources and programming and supervision are done to make it successful.”
James McMahan with the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs also testified in opposition to the bill.
“Juveniles can and sometimes do commit heinous and violent crimes in our communities,” he said. “We cannot pit rehabilitation against public safety.”
He noted that juveniles already have multiple opportunities for diversion programs before they are sent to confinement unless their first offense is a serious crime.
“The reason we oppose this bill is because it seems like yet another step, another hoop that public safety has to go through before our system starts to take the offenses of young people seriously,” McMahan explained.
ESSB 5296 previously passed the Senate on a 26-23 vote, with four Democrats joining every Republican in opposition.
