A retired teacher with decades of experience working with court-involved youth told the Pierce County Council on July 29 that Raymond Hall Detention Center has experienced a decline in structure and safety and urged the county to restore discipline and educational focus.

Darryl Hamlin, who said he retired from Tacoma Public Schools after 38 years teaching court-connected students and who taught at Raymond Hall for more than two decades, spoke during community forum. He recounted witnessing an “erosion of structure, discipline, and accountability” in the last five years of his career at Raymond Hall and said he was injured four times during that period as a result of assaults on staff and students.

"When I started teaching at Raymond Hall Detention Center, most of the detention staff were retired military," Hamlin said. "Given their experiences, they knew how to cultivate structure, discipline, and respect." He suggested the county place greater emphasis on hiring former military personnel, prioritize education so students learn to read and write, and reincorporate the practice he called “23 and 1” — removing a student from a dangerous environment for 23 hours and allowing one hour out for counseling and behavior modification — which he said is “not solitary confinement” but a behavior-management tool.

Hamlin described his willingness to re-engage with the county, offering his time and experience to help “make Raymond Hall what it was at one time, a facility that made a difference.” He framed his comments as personal observations and suggestions; the council did not take action during the meeting and no staff response or follow-up directive was recorded on the public record during the session.

Why it matters: Testimony from a long-time educator underscores concerns about conditions at a county juvenile facility. Hamlin’s comments are a public call for staffing and program changes; any operational changes would be subject to county administrative processes, collective bargaining rules for staff, and applicable juvenile detention standards.