Sunday, February 29, 2004

EDITORIAL: Youth center settlement doesn't mean it's over

It is a relief that Michael T., who allegedly suffered horrific treatment at the former Maine Youth Center, will receive compensation from the state.

The state has agreed to pay Michael T., who is now 22, a total of $600,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by him. The man, who was a resident of the center on five occasions during the 1990s, claimed periods of terrible abuse, including restraint that lasted up to 49 hours and instances of solitary confinement that reached three months. Those events far exceeded the policies set by the facility as acceptable treatment for its young residents.

Still, the settlement doesn't admit wrongdoing by the state, says the claims are "doubtful and disputed" and says the state settled to avoid more litigation.

OK. The necessary legalese aside, this is by no means finished.

GOV. BALDACCI has correctly launched investigations into the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, formerly the Maine Youth Center, and its sister facility, Mountain View Youth Development Center in Charleston.

Those investigations have discovered that practices at both facilities have improved a great deal since the 1990s. It found that there is no deliberate abuse, though there were a couple of recent instances of excessive isolation at Mountain View.

The investigations also found a high level of discontent and fragmentation among staff and a split in philosophy among senior managers, which undoubtedly prevents the facilities from providing the best rehabilitative environment they can.

The findings are important in recognizing how far the centers have come and how much more work they have left to do. What has not been determined, however, is whether any current managers or administrators approved of or were aware of the kind of abuse alleged by Michael T.

That must be determined, and those who did know about it must be fired. They should not be allowed to work for the state in any capacity, period.

THERE'S NO DISPUTE that the staff at Long Creek has worked extremely hard to turn the facility around in a relatively short period, largely at the hands of former Superintendent Lars Olsen, who was named in the lawsuit.

That good progress doesn't cancel out the suffering that Michael T. alleges, though. Nobody who would allow such things to occur should be in charge of a facility that houses the most troubled of the state's youths, nor should negligent managers be employed by the state of Maine.

The lawsuit accused Olsen, senior psychologist Barbara Heath and Deputy Superintendent Richard Lancaster of approving the mistreatment and named other current state employees in the suit.

Olsen arrived at Long Creek in 1998 and Michael T.'s last stay was in 1999. Olsen and Heath have both been reassigned within the Department of Corrections. Lancaster still works at Long Creek.

If the governor's office determines that the allegations are true, it must remember that settling the lawsuit does not settle the issue of culpability.

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