Conditions at the state’s largest juvenile prison — where young people have been locked in cells for hours and left to urinate in plastic bottles — violate state law, the Washington Court of Appeals has ruled.

Conditions at the Green Hill School in Chehalis have been the subject of heightened concern for state leaders and those with loved ones at the medium-maximum security youth prison for over a year. Last summer, the Department of Children, Youth and Families transferred 43 men, without notice, from Green Hill to an adult prison. They were sent back after a judge found the move had violated a court-ordered settlement agreement. The overcrowding that led to the transfer was at the center of the battle before the Court of Appeals.

In a personal restraint petition filed with the court la

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