The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington has filed a lawsuit against Grays Harbor County seeking the release of public records related to the use of isolated confinement at the county’s juvenile facility.

The suit comes after two juvenile detention administrators were disciplined last spring when a 15-year old was placed in isolated confinement starting March 18. The 15-year old was reportedly only allowed out of his cell to shower and for one hour of recreation per day and was in isolation for eight days and seven nights. The detention center facility director, Greg Reynvaan, was suspended for a week without pay. Detention Director Gerald Murphy was suspended for 30 days without pay.

The ACLU lawsuit seeks records related to the incident, and records related to county policies about the use of solitary confinement and restricted diets on juvenile detainees in county custody. The suit, according to Doug Honig of the ACLU of Washington, was filed after attempts by the ACLU and the detainee’s mother to obtain such records went unheeded. “The county has produced very few documents in response to the ACLU’s request, and no records at all in response to a request made by (the) mother. Several months have passed since the records were requested. This makes the ongoing delay unreasonable,” Honig said in a statement Monday.

“The public has a right to know when and under what circumstances the county is putting children in solitary confinement,” said Emily Chiang, ACLU of Washington Legal Director.

The county’s juvenile court falls under the jurisdiction of Superior Court. Judge David Edwards presides over juvenile cases along with his other duties on the Superior Court bench. At the time the confinement came to light and the administrators were disciplined, Edwards said, “Juvenile facilities across the state and across the country simply do not approve of that type of isolation of a juvenile for punitive purposes. I was shocked to learn that our detention director was unaware of that standard.”

Murphy put the teenager in isolated confinement after “many days of extremely disruptive and defiant behavior,” Edwards said, and Reynvaan had received an email to that effect but didn’t fully read it so missed an opportunity to intervene.

The Grays Harbor Juvenile Detention Center does have an isolation cell for youth, Edwards said at the time, but it is only used when an inmate is at risk of harming himself or others or in other extreme circumstances, and then only for hours, not days.