Former residents of New Hampshire’s state-run youth detention center gathered outside the facility in Manchester Saturday to protest recent reports of abuse and neglect of youth living there now.
Micheala Jancsy of Rochester was 13 when she was placed inside what is now known as the Sununu Youth Services Center nearly 20 years ago for ongoing fights with her mother. She said she was physically assaulted and raped by her counselor while living there. A nurse gave her medication to terminate the pregnancy that followed, she said.
Jancsy organized the weekend protest to send a message to the roughly 15 youth inside the facility now.
“I want them to know that they're going to get through this, and I want them to know they don't deserve it,” Jancsy said. “I never knew that.”
Shannon Wallace of Raymond stood in the rain Saturday, the center’s campus of brick buildings behind her. When her teenage sons were placed there nearly 25 years ago for addiction and a string of crimes, she thought they’d get an education and treatment.
Wallace said she learned years later they had suffered abuse and neglect while living at the center. Today, one is incarcerated and the other is still struggling with addiction, she said.
“I absolutely thought that it was going to be good for them, but I just found out it was like the worst thing that ever happened,” Wallace said. “And as a mom, it was really hard because I didn't know what was going on and I felt like I should have seen signs.”
Frank Staples of Manchester held a sign outside the facility that read: “Shut it down now.”
Staples said he spent a year at the facility as a teenager after his mother accused him of assault and running away from home. He remembers the isolation of being locked in his room, which he said felt like a jail cell, for an extended period.
“It's basically training for jail is what it is,” Staples said. He said he later served 11 years in the state prison.
The New Hampshire Office of the Child Advocate, an independent watchdog, first reported in March that a child suffered a broken bone during an illegal restraint and was not provided appropriate medical care for 48 hours. The facility's administration held all the youth there in a lockdown for nearly four weeks, the report said.
Multiple staff members have also been injured in recent months, according to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. Most recently, three employees were injured “following assaultive behavior involving multiple youth,” according to Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Jake Leon.
The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office, lawmakers, and the Disability Rights Center of New Hampshire are also investigating the most recent abuse and neglect allegations.
