Thursday, February 12, 2004

Infighting hobbles Long Creek

By GREGORY D. KESICH, Portland Press Herald Writer

The Long Creek Youth Development Center is run by "two camps" of senior managers who "actively work against the success of the other," according to a management review issued Wednesday.

Disputes over major philosophical concepts, such as a treatment-vs.-punishment approach to juvenile corrections, divide employees and prevent the facility from implementing changes, the report said.

"This intensity of feelings cannot be ignored," according to the report done at the request of Gov. John Baldacci. "Central Office must immediately develop strategies to resolve this problem if (Long Creek) is going to realize the success that is so close at hand."

One step was taken with the report's release: Superintendent Lars Olsen, who temporarily stepped aside from his position, will not return to the facility, said Commissioner of Corrections Martin Magnusson. Olsen will instead work on policy development with the department.

A national search for a new superintendent began Wednesday. Acting Superintendent Rodney Bouffard will be considered for the job, Magnusson said.

Other personnel changes will soon follow, he said, but they cannot be discussed now for legal reasons. He said the managerial division described in the report will end.

"For some people, we will have to make some more movements," Magnusson said. "Some people are salvageable."

Magnusson said he became aware in September that there were problems in the institution when he attended a labor-management meeting at Long Creek. He was surprised by the depth of distrust between workers and their supervisors. Magnusson said he came to the conclusion that progress on reform at the facility had stopped.

In October, the facility was hit with a bombshell. A lawsuit filed on behalf of Michael T., a former inmate of Long Creek's predecessor, the Maine Youth Center, alleged that he had been tied up in restraints for days at a time and locked in a windowless solitary-confinement cell for weeks on end, receiving no treatment for diagnosed mental disorders.

Documents uncovered by the suit showed that Olsen, Deputy Superintendent Robert Lancaster and senior psychologist Barbara Heath signed off on the treatment, sometimes in apparent violation of their own regulations.

Baldacci ordered an investigation of current restraint and isolation practices at the facility, which was completed last month. The separate management review was carried out by two human resource experts from the Maine Leadership Institute faculty. Olsen was asked to leave his position during the review.

The Michael T. lawsuit is still pending and, barring an out-of-court settlement, could go before a jury in March.

Release of the leadership institute's management report was delayed for a day while it was reviewed by Baldacci's legal staff. Most of it is carefully worded to avoid identifying managers, who have legal job protection, said Alan Stearns, Baldacci's policy adviser. He would not say if the managers named in the Michael T. suit are among the "ongoing issues" mentioned by Magnusson.

"It's a complex world of law and personnel issues, but other decisions are upcoming," Stearns said. "The governor is aware of all these issues and no stone will be left unturned."

Olsen is disappointed that he will not be returning to the facility, said his lawyer, Jeffrey Thaler.

The report commends Olsen for introducing many of the reforms since the Michael T. era, and Olsen is pleased with that, Thaler said.

"There are some hard feelings (among staff) because the changes came too quickly," Thaler said. "The facility has come a long way, largely as a result of the six years of leadership under Mr. Olsen."

That contention was supported by Magnusson, who said Olsen was hired to run a facility that was "a disaster."

His successor may see many of the same problems, said Stephen Farrell, chairman of the line-staff union at Long Creek.

"Lars was caught dead in the middle," Farrell said. "It was such a dysfunctional mess. It was the problem 10 years ago and it is the problem today. Somebody has got to be in charge so we can move forward."

Farrell was critical of the Corrections Department's announcement that it would conduct a national search to replace Olsen. He said the union supports Bouffard, who held a similar post at the Augusta Mental Health Institute and the Pineland Center, the now-closed state facility for people with mental retardation.

Farrell said a national search will hurt teenagers committed to Long Creek because they will have to wait too long for improvements.

"We're going to have another generation of throw-away kids. We are wasting our time," he said. "They are going to do this national search and then find a guy who is going to come in here and face the same problems we have now."

Sen. Ethan Strimling, D-Portland, who is chairman of the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee, said the report makes several findings about management failures that require immediate attention.

The report said "open disdain" for some managers, poorly designed organizational structures and unequal treatment of employees have led to high staff turnover.

"This is brutal stuff and it needs to be addressed," Strimling said. "The most important thing it tells me is that there is a culture that needs to be fixed."

Magnusson said the problems obscure a record of improvement at the facility, which was once targeted by the human rights group Amnesty International as a brutal place, but now serves as a model for other states in its rehabilitative approach.

"We have gone a long way, and I'm proud of where we have taken it," Magnusson said. "As long as we have these two camps, we are not going to get much farther."

Staff Writer Gregory D. Kesich can be contacted at 791-6336 or at: gkesich@pressherald.com

Key Findings

Key findings in the management review of the Long Creek Youth Development Center:

• "Lars Olsen . . . is not the person to lead Long Creek at this time."

• "There are two clear divisions in upper management . . . creating an 'us vs. them' environment and further diminishing the effectiveness of upper management."

• A significant number of employees interviewed told stories of line staff being reprimanded, or worse, when the same offense committed by management is ignored.

• The Central Office was cited by several interviewees as taking a "hands-off" approach to juvenile corrections.

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