| Monday, February 2, 2004
EDITORIAL: Long Creek's changes won't remove its past
It's great news that the juvenile detention facilities Long Creek
and Mountain View have so significantly improved their practices
that an independent review panel found there is no "deliberate
abuse" of their young inmates.
That doesn't mean that either facility is free of flaws, however.
The independent review, ordered by Gov. Baldacci and headed
by Portland attorney Ralph Lancaster, found that restraint and
isolation are now used less often and for shorter periods than
other similar facilities around the nation. A teen at Mountain
View, however, was kept in isolation for nearly two weeks without
permission from the deputy commissioner of corrections, which
is required every three days. There's also inadequate staff training,
a lack of coordination between the two centers and a state of
uncertainty with the status of senior staff at Long Creek.
The improvements to the present program also do not make up
for the sins of the past. If a separate review of management -
due in about two weeks - finds that any current managers were
responsible for the abuses alleged in a lawsuit brought by a former
inmate, then they should be fired.
Not allowed to resign, not laid off, not given severance packages
- fired. Period.
There is absolutely no excuse for the kind of treatment that
former youth center resident Michael T. is alleging. A lawsuit
filed by the man, who is now 21, claims that he was restrained
for periods that sometimes exceeded 49 hours at the former Maine
Youth Center, which was replaced by Long Creek. The center's maximum
limit on restraint was 30 minutes.
The suit also claims that Michael T. was kept in isolation rooms
for up to three months when the center's policy was supposed to
limit isolation to 72 hours.
The release of the court documents to the public prompted the
governor's multi-tiered investigation. The Department of Corrections
announced that Lars Olsen, who was the Long Creek superintendent
part of the time that the alleged abuse occurred, would temporarily
step down during the investigation.
If the management review finds that the allegations are accurate,
then that temporary status should be made permanent and Olsen
should be dismissed. If other managers also allowed such treatment
to proceed, they, too, should be fired immediately. 1/3 1/3!
Back to Long
Creek Articles
|
