Felice Upton, a former DCYF assistant secretary, said she was fired after raising concerns about overcrowding and unsafe conditions in juvenile detention facilities.
CHEHALIS, Wash. — The former head of Washington’s juvenile detention system says her complaints about “unconstitutional treatment” of inmates and “unsafe conditions” for staff were ignored before she was fired in April.
Former Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) Assistant Secretary Felice Upton filed a $4.75 million tort Aug. 26 against the state claiming that she was fired for being a whistleblower.
Upton says DCYF leaders did not heed her warnings about overcrowding caused by the shutdown of the Naselle Youth Camp in Pacific County. The reduced capacity forced more young inmates into the Green Hill School in Chehalis and Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie. Conditions were exacerbated by a sharp rise in youth crime that resulted in more offenders being sentenced to the existing facilities.
DCYF leaders blamed overcrowding and safety issues in a failed effort to move some offenders over the age of 21 to adult prison last year. Current Washington law allows juvenile rehabilitation facilities to house inmates up to the age of 25.
Upton was the assistant secretary of juvenile rehabilitation at DCYF and oversaw the state’s juvenile detention facilities.
In a brief statement to KING 5, Tana Senn, the new DCYF secretary who terminated Upton said, “The concerns raised in Ms. Upton’s tort claim were in no part a factor in the personnel and organizational changes I made in executive leadership when I joined as the new head of DCYF.”
Senn replaced the embattled former DCYF Secretary Ross Hunter. Upton claims Hunter ignored her concerns and later tried to blame her for the problems.
Over the last six years, the KING 5 Investigators have exposed many problems at the Green Hill School including overcrowding and rioting, staff shortages and assaults, and misconduct by staff.
“(Hunter) was hostile to me and blamed me for the news reports,” Upton wrote in her claim.
Hunter did not respond to a request for comment from KING 5.
Upton’s tort claim was first reported by the Washington State Standard.
As Upton’s claim came to light, DCYF announced her replacement as assistant secretary of juvenile rehabilitation. The agency promoted Jennifer Redman, who was the interim head of Green Hill School. “Safety is number one priority,” Redman said in a press release.
