For years, prosecutors have filed more prison riot charges against young people incarcerated at a state-run juvenile detention center in Chehalis than any other facility in Washington.
Legal advocates for youth say the felony charges indiscriminately target young people when it’s not warranted.
The Lewis County prosecutor who oversees filing many of the charges says his office is just following the law as it was written.
Either way, the practice could soon end.
Under a bill passed last week by Washington lawmakers, prison riot charges would no longer be brought against young people held in juvenile rehabilitation centers.
House Bill 1815, which has not yet been signed into law by Gov. Bob Ferguson, would also allow anyone who pleaded or was found guilty of a prison riot in a juvenile detention center in the past five years to have the conviction vacated. If they are still serving time, they can also be resentenced.
The bill passed amid a dramatic rise over the last two years in prison riot charges filed against youth incarcerated at the Green Hill School in Chehalis. The detention center has made a spate of headlines about assaults, lockdowns, arrests of staff members and overcrowding, drawing attention to — and criticism of — the state’s handling of the juvenile justice system.
In Washington, a “prison riot” is defined by statute as whenever two or more incarcerated people assemble and act in “such a manner as to disturb the good order of the institution” through force of violence. It’s a felony offense that carries a sentence between one and 10 years, and a fine of up to $20,000.
Effectively, the bill excludes facilities operated by the Department of Children, Youth and Families and county juvenile detention facilities from the definition of a “correctional institution” in the context of prison riot charges.
Instead, the bill requires that DCYF establish rules for internally handling prison riot behavior like the agency does for other infractions. That effort is already underway, a spokesperson said. However, if an incident is egregious enough, other charges could still be pursued, like fourth-degree or custodial assault.
The bill was heavily debated during the hearing process, with opponents arguing it will let young people off the hook for breaking the law.
A spike in prison riot charges
In recent years, prison riot charges have been disproportionately filed against people at Green Hill School compared to adult prisons managed by the Department of Corrections, like the state penitentiary in Walla Walla. The medium-maximum security center in Chehalis has been overcrowded for over a year, amplifying violent incidents and halting programming for the young men between 17 and 25 who are housed there.
Elisa Cozad is a staff attorney with TeamChild, which provides free legal services and advocates for youth involved in the juvenile rehabilitation system. In the last two years, Cozad said, there have been major spikes in prison riot charges against youth at Green Hill.
Lewis County — where the Green Hill School is located — files the vast majority of prison riot charges in the state. Between 2005 and 2023, the county accounted for 67% of statewide prison riot charges, despite being home to about 3% of the state’s incarcerated population, according to the Washington State Office of Financial Management.
“We’re not doing this to adults, but this is what we’re doing to our young people, who, by law, by science, by every known factor, are more impulsive, more subject to fighting,” said TeamChild policy manager Arthur Longworth.
Cozad said the team has seen youth who were defending themselves, or who say they were attempting to break up a fight, get charged. In some cases, she said, staff are slow to respond or turn a blind eye to the fights. Last year, an employee at Green Hill School was charged with prison riot, abuse of office and conspiracy to commit assault after allowing one incarcerated young person to attack another.
“Basically any sort of fight has been sent to the prosecutor’s office during that time,” Cozad said, including minor fights that don’t threaten the institution.
Cozad said there aren’t instances of youth colluding to take over the facility, as some might think.
“It’s really kids fighting amongst themselves, and I think we’re seeing that is because of the problems within the institution, right? The overcrowding, the understaffing.”
The Green Hill School has been above what it defines as “safe operational capacity” by about 50 to 60 people for over a year. As a result, youth have been locked in their rooms for extended periods of time, programming has slowed, and both staff and incarcerated youth have been attacked. In June, the department plans to open a new 48-bed facility on the grounds of the adult Stafford Creek Corrections Center to bring some measure of relief to Green Hill.
Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said his office is simply following the prison riot statute as it was written to address assaultive behavior at Green Hill.
“I think it turns Green Hill into a fight club,” Meyer said of the bill.
Meyer also defended the cases the agency did choose to prosecute, pointing out the office declined 77 cases of the 235 referred to the office between late 2022 and this February. “We take no joy in charging them,” Meyer said.
Meyer also said the incidents that are charged generally are not minor.
“We see some legitimate issues that aren’t just two people getting into a fight,” said Russell Brown, executive director of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.
An analysis by the Office of Financial Management’s public safety policy and research center found there is a racial disproportionality in who is charged with prison riot from Green Hill, particularly among young Hispanic/Latino and Black people. About 83% of people charged with prison riot between 2017 and 2024 were people of color, according to data from the Administrative Office of the Courts.
“You’re just going to lose hope”
Democratic Rep. Strom Peterson of Edmonds, who sponsored the bill, said riot charges keep young people behind bars.
“If you’re in (Green Hill) for whatever the offense is, and you get caught up in this prison riot offense, you could get two to six years added to your sentence, as well as big financial penalties,” Peterson said. “You’re just going to lose hope.”
During floor debates and public testimony, some brought up the idea of changing the prison riot statute further. Peterson, when asked, said “it’s always important for us to go back and double check our work and triple check our work.”
Even Meyer, the prosecutor, thinks the statute doesn’t make a lot of sense: He said there’s a “massive” sentencing range, and the offense could be a class C felony instead of class B.
DCYF spokesperson Nancy Gutierrez said the agency is “supportive” of the bill and is reviewing who would be eligible for resentencing if it’s signed into law.
The department anticipates shorter sentences for those individuals, largely at Green Hill School, where the majority of young people with prison riot charges reside, Gutierrez said. The bill could also expand eligibility for community placement opportunities.
About 21 people in adult prison could be up for resentencing.
Two months ago, DCYF launched a new behavior management system for juvenile rehabilitation, creating a framework for how the department responds to inappropriate behavior, the agency said. It’s in the early stages of being developed, Gutierrez said, but for serious offenses like prison riot, violation responses are already in place, like taking away privileges.