Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Staffer selected as acting chief at youth center

By PAUL CARRIER, Portland Press Herald Writer

A veteran administrator was named Tuesday to oversee the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland while the state investigates how the troubled facility is being run.

Rodney Bouffard was named acting superintendent at Long Creek. He replaces Lars Olsen, who was removed from his post Monday and reassigned to another job in the Department of Corrections following allegations he approved of the excessive use of isolation and restraints at the former Maine Youth Center.

Ralph Lancaster, a prominent Portland lawyer, will oversee an independent investigation into Long Creek, Gov. John Baldacci's office said Tuesday.

The appointments are seen as signs that state officials are placing a high priority on improving management practices and boosting staff morale at Long Creek. Although the review will examine the use of restraints and isolation, it is expected to extend beyond that to include other issues, including employee-management relationships.

"The governor recognizes that, for too long, there have been problems at the youth center, and now, as governor, he wants to remedy those problems," said Lee Umphrey, Baldacci's spokesman.

Lancaster has agreed to conduct the investigation without compensation. Corrections Commissioner Martin Magnusson and Alan Stearns, a top aide to the governor, are expected to assist him.

Bouffard was the deputy superintendent of operations there until his promotion Tuesday. Before joining the staff at the youth center, Bouffard ran the Augusta Mental Health Institute and the former Pineland Center in Pownal.

Olsen came under public scrutiny earlier this month when documents in a pending lawsuit revealed that he was one of several state officials who signed off on the excessive use of isolation and restraints at the youth center in the 1990s, in apparent violation of the center's own rules.

But state officials emphasized Tuesday that the investigation will focus more on current management practices at Long Creek than on past mistakes. The investigation is expected to look at a wide range of ongoing labor-management issues, Magnusson said.

Umphrey acknowledged that the lawsuit set the wheels in motion for Olsen's ouster, Bouffard's promotion and Lancaster's hiring. But he said Lancaster's probe will steer clear of the lawsuit and focus instead on "a broad sweep of the center's management and current policies."

"What we're really looking at is what's going on down there now," Magnusson said.

He said current problems at Long Creek include conflicts between managers and employees, and squabbles among managers. He said many staffers are concerned that the administration is too lenient on residents when they misbehave.

In addition, union leaders at Long Creek have complained about health and safety issues, working conditions, slumping morale and leadership problems. The largest union at the facility is in the midst of a no-confidence vote against senior management.

"It's like the facility has hit a wall," Magnusson said. "We've stagnated. We're not moving forward. There's a lot of infighting going on."

Lancaster said he has not yet received a "charge" from the governor detailing what he is supposed to do. Umphrey said it remains to be seen how Lancaster will conduct his review, but he said Lancaster is expected to submit findings and recommendations in about two months "on how to make the youth center more effective."

Umphrey said it will be up to the governor, working with Magnusson, to decide whether to implement Lancaster's recommendations.

Magnusson praised Olsen on Tuesday for making more positive changes at the youth center than any of his predecessors. Olsen became interim superintendent of the old Maine Youth Center in 1998, but he presided over sweeping reforms that included the construction of a new $34 million facility that does not have isolation cells.

The promotion of Bouffard and the selection of Lancaster as an investigator won praise from rank-and-file workers and lawmakers.

Steve Farrell, a worker and union leader at the youth center, said staffers have "pledged to the commissioner that we will work hand in hand with Mr. Bouffard" while he is in charge.

Farrell said Bouffard has "excellent people skills, a tremendous background in mental health and he knows the issues."

Sen. Ethan Strimling, D-Portland, who co-chairs the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee, praised Baldacci for bringing in Lancaster and for hiring an acting superintendent who has mental health credentials.

Lancaster "has great stature" and he is well-known as "someone people can trust," said Sen. Lynn Bromley, D-South Portland, whose district includes Long Creek.

In 1998, Lancaster was appointed independent counsel to investigate charges of impropriety against then-U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman. He once represented a chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court during an impeachment proceeding. And the U.S. Supreme Court chose him three years ago to serve as a special master in a boundary dispute between Maryland and Virginia.

Bouffard is "a known quantity" at Long Creek and he works well with the staff, said Dan Reardon of Portland, a volunteer who also chairs a state oversight committee. Many young people at Long Creek have mental health problems, Reardon said, so Bouffard brings "another perspective" that will be useful.

Umphrey, Baldacci's spokesman, said he saw no contradiction between the governor's speedy decision to replace Olsen and the fact that Baldacci has not replaced any top managers at the Department of Human Services, despite serious financial problems in that agency, including a nearly $150 million shortfall in the Medicaid budget.

Staff Writer Paul Carrier can be contacted at 622-7511 or at: pcarrier@pressherald.com

More Information

RALPH I. LANCASTER JR.

Education: John Bapst High School, 1948; Holy Cross College, 1952; Harvard Law School, 1955

Professional experience: Lawyer. Employed at Maine's largest firm, Pierce Atwood, since 1959; former legal counsel to Maine Republican Party.

Previously served as president of the Maine Bar Association, president of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and chairman of an American Bar Association panel that reviews the selection of all federal judges.

Appointed to investigate President Clinton's labor secretary Alexis Herman in 1998.

Personal: Married to the former Mary Lou Pooler of Bangor; they have six children and five grandchildren

RODNEY BOUFFARD

Education: Thornton Academy, Saco; University of Maine at Fort Kent.

Professional experience: Taught elementary school and special education. Was superintendent of Pineland Center when it closed in 1996.

From 1996 to 2000 was superintendent of the Augusta Mental Health Institute.

Named head of operations at Maine Youth Center in 2001. Named acting superintendent at the Long Creek Youth Development Center on Oct. 21, 2003.

Compiled by staff researcher Susan Butler

MAINE YOUTH CENTER/LONG CREEK YOUTH CENTER TIMELINE

1998 - Amnesty International criticizes what it calls inadequate programs and mistreatment of youths, highlighting the common use of a restraint chair. The complaints prompt reviews of the Maine Youth Center.

1999 - Edward Loughran, an expert hired by the state to assess the youth center, issues a scathing report, blaming budget cuts for a creating a "prison-like culture" from which residents "are returning to the community in worse shape than when they entered."

Gov. Angus King pledges dramatic changes, saying the center will again be a model facility within two years. He unveils a $25.5 million improvement plan for the state's juvenile corrections system.

2000 - Loughran, the state's consultant, says the Youth Center reforms have made "substantial progress," but the institution is still struggling with inadequate staff training and a "custodial culture."

2001 - The Maine Youth Center is overhauled and renamed the Long Creek Youth Development Center. Its outmoded cottage-style living arrangements are being replaced with individual, secure rooms.

2002 - A $34 million building replaces cottages that housed as many as 60 young people and lacked air conditioning. The overhaul consolidates the center's campus of 14 historic buildings into a modern 183,000-square-foot facility.

2003 , Oct. 14 The governor's office says it is investigating allegations that officials from the former Maine Youth Center in South Portland - including the current superintendent - violated the facility's rules by using solitary confinement and physical restraints for longer periods than regulations allow. The announcement follows a Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram report on the allegations.

Oct. 15, union workers at Long Creek say they're taking a vote of no confidence in the facility's top administration, including Superintendent Lars Olsen.

Oct. 20, Olsen is removed from his post while the state conducts an independent investigation of management at Maine's largest juvenile corrections facility.

Oct. 21, Rodney Bouffard, Long Creek's head of operations, is appointed interim superintendent at the facility. Portland lawyer Ralph Lancaster is named to head the investigation into Long Creek.

Compiled by staff researcher Beth Murphy

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