The former head of Washington’s beleaguered juvenile detention system alleges she was fired in retaliation for repeatedly warning of the dangers of overcrowding in the state’s youth prisons.
As assistant secretary of juvenile rehabilitation at Washington’s Department of Children, Youth and Families, Felice Upton oversaw the state’s two youth detention centers: Green Hill School in Chehalis and Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie.
After five years at the agency, Upton was fired in April without explanation. Last week, she filed a claim for $4.75 million in damages alleging she was terminated for being a whistleblower about deteriorating conditions in the facilities. The claim serves as a precursor to a lawsuit .
“DCYF has neglected long-term solutions in favor of short-term actions that are only costing taxpayers more money without addressing the underlying issue,” Upton said in a statement Tuesday.
Tana Senn, the secretary of the Department of Children, Youth and Families, said late Wednesday that Upton’s concerns “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.”
In Upton’s tenure, state law changed to send young adults convicted of crimes to youth detention instead of adult prison until age 25. This caused the population in the state’s facilities to balloon.
Last year, the crowding crisis reached the point that the Department of Children, Youth and Families transferred 43 men...
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