Youth detention worker arrested for 'inappropriate relationship' with former inmate in Washington

A youth detention employee  Washington State’s Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) was arrested this week for having an "inappropriate relationship" with a former inmate. According to investigators, the employee had been passing contraband to the inmate when that inmate was detained at Green Hill.

In a statement from DCYF obtained by The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, “Through diligent intelligence gathering and investigation with partners in multiple agencies, Green Hill School staff were able to secure information and evidence leading to the termination and arrest of a former employee.”

The statement continued, "We want to thank our DCYF staff for their swift action and law enforcement for their ongoing efforts to protect the young people in our care."

According to Fox 13, law enforcement began investigating Michelle Goodman in early 2024, after the Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office learned that a teen had been beaten up at the facility. Goodman allegedly allowed the attack to happen, and was caught laughing with the inmates that were involved on video after the attack.

The DCYF facility for older teens and young adults, has been generating negative headlines for months. Earlier this year, a security guard was arrested for allegedly facilitating an attack on one of the teens. The latest incident is part of a stream of seemingly never-ending negative headlines about the DCYF and Green Hill.

Previously, DCYF stopped allowing counties to send convicted criminals to its juvenile facilities due to overcrowding. The Washington Association of Sheriffs said that Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie and Green Hill School in Chehalis suspended new intakes, "regardless of violence or severity of the crime."  Echo Glen has been plagued with multiple violent incidents and escapes.

Last week, a judge approved a preliminary injunction stating that 43 inmates that had been moved to an adult facility to clear space in Green Hill, would have to go back. All were over the age of 18. They would have been transferred to the adult facilities when they turned 25.

Five years ago, Washington adopted the "JR-to-25" law which allows youth who have been incarcerated for serious childhood crimes to remain in juvenile facilities until they turn 25.

One of the ones who was transferred was Caya Lenay who in 2018 pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after he shot to death a mother named Julie Knechtel during home-invasion robbery. He is serving a 134-month sentence for the crimes.