WA youth prison leader was fired after harassment probe

The head of Washington’s newest juvenile detention center was ousted after an investigation into allegations he sexually harassed an employee.

The ex-staffer accused Kendrick Rochelle of repeatedly making her uncomfortable. For example, she alleged he said he would “take out” her child’s father, and named five people held at the detention center who he said could do it, according to an internal investigator’s report obtained via public records request. 

The woman reported the alleged harassment after being fired.

Rochelle, who is Black, vehemently denies the allegations and said in an interview with the Standard that they may have been motivated by his race. He was fired this spring.

Rochelle was brought in as the first superintendent at Harbor Heights, a facility opened in July 2025 on the grounds of an adult prison in Aberdeen. The goal of Harbor Heights was to relieve pressure from overpopulation at another youth prison and provide a more restorative environment for a select group of young people convicted of crimes.  

The detention center has capacity for 32 young men who transfer from the crowded Green Hill School in Chehalis. The renovated space was initially meant to hold up to 46 people.

It’s been a bumpy year since opening. Twenty-one employees have been let go in that time, according to the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, which runs Washington’s juvenile detention system. This includes employees terminated for non-disciplinary reasons, as well as those ousted during their probationary period. 

The agency, which has faced staunch criticism for its handling of the overcrowding in youth detention, declined to comment on the specifics of Rochelle’s case, but confirmed he was fired. 

“DCYF takes sexual harassment seriously,” spokesperson Nancy Gutierrez said in an email. “Depending on the circumstances, an employee may be reassigned or placed on an alternative assignment during an investigation.”

The allegations

Rochelle started making his subordinate uncomfortable early in her tenure, according to her allegations. 

The first example came in June 2025 when Rochelle reportedly told her, “I have a feeling that you were a bad girl in high school.”

Around the same time, he followed her on Facebook and Instagram, liking her posts and sending direct messages. In one case, Rochelle sent a red heart to her in the middle of the night, according to the report. He never sent pictures of himself or requested photos of her.

Rochelle told the investigator he didn’t think it was inappropriate to follow subordinates on social media, but said he could see how it could be taken out of context.

Rochelle also was accused of having her come to his office and close the door while he asked about her personal life, including her relationship with the father of her child. He told the investigator she initiated these personal conversations.

He also suggested that her child’s father didn’t appreciate the woman enough, or “didn’t know what he had in front of him,” she alleged. Rochelle later reportedly told her that she should be with someone older and more established. She felt he was talking about himself. 

During these conversations, she reported he told her she was beautiful numerous times. He says he never commented on her appearance.

Feeling uncomfortable, she started to avoid him, stopped wearing makeup and wore baggy clothes. But Rochelle would still compliment her, according to the report.

“It made me feel the opposite of beautiful,” the ex-employee told an investigator. “It made me feel disgusting as a human being.”

Once she started avoiding him, he told her via Instagram that “I notice you don’t mess with me the way you used to,” according to the investigation. She resumed going to his office out of fear of losing her job. He reportedly made her promise she wouldn’t act like a stranger.

The last time she went to his office was when Rochelle made her most uncomfortable, she reported. 

“He said he would take out my child’s father and end up on the opposite side of prison,” she told the state investigator. “He also said he could name at least five residents who would do the job and take out my child’s father for me.”

The woman reported this to her mother, but felt she didn’t have anyone else to go to, according to the report. Rochelle said the comments “never happened.”

“That’s not even of my character, that I would even say,” Rochelle told the Standard.

The staffer’s mother reported her daughter told her about Rochelle’s behavior at the time.

After she was fired, the former staffer messaged Rochelle on social media and asked, “Can we still be friends?” according to screenshots he provided to investigators.

Once his interview with internal investigators concluded, he continued chatting with them, saying that this employee “isn’t even my type.”

Rochelle was also accused of overstepping boundaries with the men incarcerated at Harbor Heights, including calling them the N-word derisively. He denies this happened.

In the report, some people held at the facility vouched for Rochelle’s character, calling him respectful. They said they could tell he cared.

Rochelle’s response

Rochelle was new to Washington. He started his career as a correctional officer before moving into criminal justice leadership roles in Ohio, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. Growing up without a father, he has said, he felt he could relate to the incarcerated young people he oversaw. 

He led recruitment efforts to bring men from the poor conditions at Green Hill to the more therapeutic Harbor Heights. 

But he said he feels the young men at Harbor Heights were “lied to,” with promises that didn’t come to fruition of more respect and additional programming. He blames steep staff turnover on the state hiring employees regardless of whether they’d worked in youth prisons. 

Rochelle said other Black staffers at Harbor Heights have also undergone investigations. He also noted a banana was at one point left on his car windshield at work at Harbor Heights, pointing to the racist trope of comparing Black people to monkeys. In another incident, a banana was taped to a control booth window. 

Department of Corrections employees were responsible for the control booth incident.

“This was addressed by the facility, and the responsible DOC employee was instructed to discontinue this behavior,” agency spokesperson Rachel Ericson said in an email.

It’s unclear who was responsible for putting the banana on a vehicle, Ericson said. The Department of Children, Youth and Families said it wasn’t left on Rochelle’s car. 

Rochelle said he feels the allegations against him were retaliatory after the accuser was fired. The sexual harassment accusations weren’t the formal reason for his termination, he said. The Department of Children, Youth and Families reportedly cited “poor performance,” and his supervisor later told him “it wasn’t a good fit.”

He’s considering filing a lawsuit for wrongful termination against the state. For now, he’s living out of a hotel in Lacey, and struggling to find work.

“This is devastating my life, where I can’t even get a job and I do things in the right manner,” Rochelle said. “I’ve never had to deal with anything like this.”

Harbor Heights hasn’t been the only youth detention facility with tumult at the top. Green Hill has had three leaders since 2020, according to a recent state audit. Echo Glen, which is located in Snoqualmie, has had nine.