Exposing Inhumane Conditions at Green Hill on The Day With Trae: A Mother's Fight for Justice
Photos by Jordan Somers
In a recent segment of The Day With Trae, host Trae Holiday was joined by Rashida Robbins to highlight a topic that has been a growing concern within the community: the alarming conditions inside youth detention centers, more specifically, the Green Hill School. This juvenile detention facility has faced numerous allegations over investigations into mistreatment of residents by staff, overdoses, and violence. Robbins, a mother whose child is currently detained at Green Hill, shared her perspective on the conditions her son and other youth are enduring.
"While it's been widely acknowledged that there's a problem there that needs to be resolved when I look at the situation, it just looks like we have a bunch of adults standing outside of a burning building trying to decide whether or not they should call the fire department," Robbins said of the facility. Throughout the segment, Robbin made numerous claims alongside the already damaging allegations that the facility is accused of, such as staff withholding food as punishment, letting kids in the facility go hungry, and citing that her own son has lost weight.
"This seems like a problem that could be easily addressed," Robbins said. "We can get a nutritionist in there tomorrow to make sure that the caloric intake is appropriate. We can get someone in there tomorrow to make sure that food is being dispersed or given out in an equitable way."
Regarding meals being taken away as punishment, Robbins said it comes down to staff controlling "the situation with food."
"I can tell you about an incident that happened when I was on a visit, and the six youths that were there visiting their families had their lunches withheld," Robinns claimed. "When they asked about it, staff told them that there was no food. There just wasn't anything for them, and they weren't given lunch that day due to the fact that the food is not being distributed in an equitable manner."
Beyond meals, Robbins described living conditions within the school as just as dire. Regarding the stereotypical cell often seen in adult facilities, Robbins explained that her son and others don't have that.
"What you see on TV a lot would be what I've learned is called a wet cell. The kids don't have wet cells, so they don't have access to clean running water if they're thirsty," Robbins said. "They don't have access to the facilities when they need to use it, their only recourse is to push a call button that's on the inside of their room and hope that someone comes, and they usually do not."
Rashida revealed that, besides the limited hours her son is allowed outside his room, he has reported being locked in the bathroom when needing to use the facilities. She recounted an incident where her son witnessed a young man who was left locked in the bathroom for an extended period. When he finally was let out, he was in the midst of a panic attack, only to be met with mockery from the staff.
"If they do get let out and walk to the bathroom, they're locked in there. There is no call button inside these locked bathrooms to alert someone to the fact that they need to be let out," Robbins said. "They bang on the door, they scream, they just hope that someone will hear them."
The lack of mental health services further exacerbates the conditions despite claims from the facility that it provides therapy. Robbins said she and other families have yet to see any evidence of adequate mental health care being offered at Green Hill.
"I know for a fact that we have young men that are experiencing situational depression, clinical depression, PTSD," Robbins said. "They're suffering from the wounds that are the result of abuse, sexual, physical, verbal, and that is going unchecked, undiagnosed, untreated."
Continuing, she said, "I've spoken with the mom whose son was diagnosed with bipolar and is not given the proper therapy or access to medicines that could help them. So we're painting these youth as the bad guys in situations that they are the most powerless in."
Right now, Robbins and other parents have come together to voice an outcry against Green Hill. As for change, Robbins stressed the "system needs to be completely revamped."
"We're thinking of safety in terms of staff and not in terms of the most vulnerable people in the situation, the over 200 young men that are trapped in there with no recourse," Robbins explained. "My son is afraid of staff. He has seen staff beating residents and the residents not being given proper care afterward."
Robbins praised organizations trying to make those changes Robbins wants, such as Kids Are Kids, for its role in bringing families together and amplifying their voices.
"Before Kids Are Kids, I felt very alone and very detached. This is not something that you bring up at parties or you talk about really with your friends. It's not an experience that is shared by many and it's painful," she admitted. The organization has provided a crucial platform for parents to share their stories, organize, and advocate for their children.
"Before I can describe really trying to advocate for my son in there, it felt like I was screaming into the avoid alone," Robbins said. "I still feel like I'm screaming into the void, but I'm not alone, and that's what Kids Are Kids have been."
Looking ahead, Robbins called for sweeping changes, including better access to mental health care, proper nutrition, and humane living conditions.
"We need some tailored therapy in there. We need therapeutic solutions. We need the children to be met, the youth to be met with therapeutic remedies, and we need them to be fed well, Robbins said. "We need them to actually not be starving inside of a government facility. So I think there are big, sweeping changes that need to be made from the top down. We need reorganization. I think the the way that we interact with these youth, the way that we rehabilitate them really needs to be examined. And that's the big picture."
For those interested in supporting the efforts to improve conditions at Green Hill and other youth detention facilities, Kids Are Kids Washington is actively working to create awareness and push for policy changes.
Tune in with Trae every weekday at 11 a.m. on all Converge Media platforms and The Day With Trae YouTube Channel.
