By Emily Fitzgerald / [email protected]
The Lewis County District Attorney’s Office last month filed charges against several Green Hill School inmates for alleged crimes committed at the Chehalis Juvenile Detention Center.
Matthew Sherman, 18, was charged with assault on Aug. 2 for spitting in an employee’s face on May 3. He allegedly “spit on” an employee earlier that day and was warned that “possible charges could be faced if he spits on an employee,” according to court documents. When he was told after the second offense that he “had already been warned, he responded, ‘I don’t care,'” according to court documents.
Sherman’s preliminary hearing was held on August 7. His arraignment was scheduled for August 15.
Jonell Maurice Irvin Swan, 19, was charged with assault on July 10 for striking a Green Hill employee twice with a water bottle and attempting to punch her on June 7. He pleaded not guilty on July 25, and his trial is scheduled to begin on October 14.
On July 11, Swan was also charged with possession of a controlled substance at a state correctional facility after Green Hill reported finding marijuana in Swan’s cell on March 4. Swan’s preliminary hearing was held on August 6, and arraignment was scheduled for August 15.
During the same March 4 search, Green Hill staff reported finding marijuana and a cellphone under the bed of Swan’s cellmate, 18-year-old Myking Lee. Lee was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance at a state correctional facility on July 11. His preliminary hearing was held on August 6, and arraignment was scheduled for August 15.
Three other Green Hill School inmates were charged in July with possession of a controlled substance in a state correctional facility.
On July 5, 20-year-old Joseph Allen Odden was charged with allegedly having “a piece of foil with a liquid in it, presumably contraband” in his room on April 27. He pleaded not guilty on July 18, and his trial is scheduled to begin on October 7.
Isaiah Jamon Andrews, 19, was charged on July 24 after his mother allegedly “passed an item to her son” during a visit on July 14. Officers later allegedly found “marijuana and/or cannabis and/or methamphetamine” in the item, according to court documents.
Andrews pleaded not guilty on August 8.
Robbrie Purdell Thompson, 22, was charged on July 31 after staff reported on July 12 that contraband was found in his possessions. Thompson was one of 43 inmates at Green Hill School transferred to Department of Corrections custody on July 12 due to overcrowding issues at the facility. When staff searched the belongings he left behind at Green Hill, they found a false-bottomed water bottle containing a cellphone, a charging cord, a “piece of paper with a substance in it” and “other items,” according to court documents.
A judge has now ordered that all 43 transferred inmates be returned to Green Hill School.
Thompson had been in custody at Green Hill School since his preliminary hearing on August 7. His arraignment was scheduled for August 15.
A former Green Hill School inmate, Salomon De Alba, 21, was charged with weapons possession on June 28 after the facility reported that staff found a metal bar in his cell on May 28 or April 29, court records show. The date of the incident was inconsistently stated in the indictment and the affidavit of probable cause filed in Lewis County Superior Court.
De Alba received a summons to appear for a preliminary hearing on August 6, but failed to attend, prompting the judge to issue a $25,000 arrest warrant.
In October, Green Hill School began reporting all seized contraband and all attacks involving three or more inmates to Chehalis police, according to Jason Aldana, Green Hill School’s acting principal.
In a statement to a Chronicle reporter in March, Aldana said he reached out to former Centralia Police Chief Stacy Denham and Chehalis Police Chief Randy Kaut shortly after the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET) executed a search warrant at the facility on August 31, 2023. The execution of the search warrant resulted in unreported evidence and contraband being seized from the lockers.
Aldana said he met with Kaut and Chehalis Deputy Police Chief Matt McKnight in early September to go over a pilot system for reporting assaults and seized contraband to Chehalis police.
Kaut confirmed in April that Chehalis police regularly find contraband confiscated from Green Hill staff. Police also regularly receive reports of incidents inside the facility, including found contraband and prison riots, defined as a physical altercation involving three or more inmates.
Denham and Republican Senate Leader John Braun (R-Centralia) criticized the juvenile detention facility on several occasions over the past year. Braun called on Gov. Jay Inslee to launch an investigation. Inslee refused to do so, but pointed out that security at the facility had been improved since JNET issued the warrant.
The state Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCFY), which operates Green Hill School, announced Friday, July 5, that the juvenile detention center will temporarily close admissions until the facility reaches a “sustainable size” of occupancy.
DCYF says it could take months to resolve the overcrowding. The move comes five years after the passage of the Youth Justice Act on 25 took effect, allowing some offenders to serve their sentences in youth rehabilitation even after they reach adulthood.
Instead of being sent to Green Hill or Echo Glen, newly convicted offenders remain in custody in county detention centers, with the department providing financial support, according to DCYF.
When two Chronicle reporters toured Green Hill in late March, a spokesman said the facility housed more than 200 residents, which went beyond “best practices.”
In addition to the increase in inmate numbers, both facilities have also seen a number of cases of misconduct by prominent correctional officers and other security violations in recent years.
At Green Hill, a correctional employee was arrested in March for allegedly “looking the other way” when two Green Hill inmates attacked another inmate in early January. The employee faces one count each of prison riot, abuse of authority and conspiracy to commit fourth-degree assault.
Another correctional employee was arrested on July 24 for allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with an adult inmate, providing contraband to the inmate and discussing details of the case with a person of interest. The employee faces misdemeanor and witness tampering charges.
Also in July, a corrections employee was arrested for allegedly selling meth and other contraband to an inmate on June 15. The employee was charged with one count each of possession of a controlled substance in a state or county correctional facility by a non-inmate and second-degree introduction of contraband.
According to Chehalis police, another correctional employee was arrested months earlier for allegedly bringing controlled substances into the facility.
