On Tuesday, July 16, 2024, Columbia Legal Services (CLS) sent a letter to Governor Inslee urging immediate action to reverse the transfer of 43 young people from juvenile rehabilitation to adult prison without any notice, hearings, or other due process protections. The letter was one of several emergency steps the legal aid nonprofit has taken since learning of the unlawful transfers made by the Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) last Friday, July 12. On Monday, July 15, CLS filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction and a Motion to Shorten Time in an effort to expedite a hearing in front of Judge Anne Egeler, the assigned judge in a related case, Ta’afulisia v. DCYF. The court granted CLS’ request to hear the motion on Friday, July 19.
On Friday, July 12, CLS learned that 43 adult-sentenced youth had been transferred to DOC facilities with no warning. Under Washington law, young people who have been sentenced in adult court for crimes they committed when they were under 18 are entitled to remain in a juvenile rehabilitation facility until they turn 25. There are many reasons for this law, including the rights of youth to receive rehabilitation and education opportunities, and the extreme danger to young people housed in adult prisons. Any youth being considered for transfer to an adult prison before age 25 is entitled to due process, including proper advance notice, the ability to talk to an attorney, a hearing where the youth can argue their case, and an opportunity to appeal the transfer decision in court. None of these protections were given to any of the 43 young people transferred on July 12, 2024.
Unfortunately, this is just the latest instance of DCYF violating the law in this manner. In October 2022, CLS filed a class action complaint in Thurston County Superior Court against DCYF challenging its practice of transferring adult-sentenced youth in its custody to DOC. That case, Ta’afulisia vs. DCYF, reached a final settlement agreement on October 27, 2023. Under the terms of that settlement agreement, any adult-sentenced youth under age 25 being considered for transfer to DOC would be entitled to all of the due process protections guaranteed by state law and agency policy. The parties also agreed to a three-year monitoring period to ensure DCYF was in full compliance with the agreement.
DCYF’s transfer decision on July 12, 2024 was shocking to CLS staff, who have been monitoring the agency’s compliance with the settlement since late last year. “Once again, DCYF’s actions violate Washington State constitutional and statutory law, as well as the agency’s own policies,” states CLS attorney, Sarah Nagy. “Furthermore, these transfers fly in the face of the Final Settlement Agreement reached in Ta’afulisia vs. DCYF.”
CLS has already learned that one of the transferred youth is currently being held in solitary confinement “for protection” after being assaulted by an adult at the DOC facility. “Each of these young people has been irreparably harmed as a result of DCYF failing to comply with an agreement it voluntarily entered into less than 9 months ago. This flagrant disregard for the terms of the Settlement Agreement undermines any trust in DCYF to follow its word, much less the law.”
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