Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, seen here in 2023, announced plans on Nov. 25, 2024 for a new juvenile detention facility on the campus of the Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen, Wash. Young people held at the site won’t have contact with adult prisoners or state Department of Corrections staff. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Washington will open a new juvenile detention center on the campus of a prison in Aberdeen, an attempt to ease overcrowding at two existing state facilities for young people convicted of crimes.
Gov. Jay Inslee on Monday said that the facility will be adjacent to Stafford Creek Corrections Center. It will house 48 young men who choose to move out of Green Hill School in Chehalis, where officials say overcrowding has led to unsafe conditions.
Although the new juvenile detention facility will be on Department of Corrections property, it will be operated separately from the state prison.
Since 2023, Washington’s juvenile justice population has increased 60%, according to Inslee’s office. Most of that is due to a rise in crime among young people that Inslee said Monday was “unpredicted and unpredictable.”