Updated to include comment from Attorney General John Formella.
By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
Breaking the seal on federal action, U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-2nd Congressional District) is calling for a federal investigation into current and historic abuses inside the Sununu Youth Services Center, formerly called the Youth Development Center or YDC.
On Tuesday morning, Goodlander sent a letter to United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire Erin Creegan asking for an investigation under the Civil Rights for Institutionalized Persons Act, or CRIPA.
“Such action would not be unprecedented; the [United States] Department [of Justice] has pursued similar relief regarding juvenile facilities in other states,” Goodlander wrote.
Goodlander’s letter comes as the state continues to fumble its response to the YDC scandal of 60 years of abuse, and the ongoing abuses alleged to be taking place inside the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. The facility, which opened in 1858, is one of the oldest juvenile detention centers in the country.
“Its recent history is defined by one of the largest child-abuse scandals in the nation,” Goodlander wrote. “Since 2020, roughly 1,300 people have come forward alleging physical, sexual, or emotional abuse as children in state juvenile custody, in conduct spanning approximately six decades; survivors have filed nearly 1,200 civil lawsuits, and eleven former workers have faced criminal charges. The State has, in substantial measure, acknowledged that serious abuse occurred: at least three former staff have been convicted, with additional prosecutions pending; a jury returned a $38 million verdict — the largest of its kind in State history — in the first case to reach trial; and the Legislature created a settlement fund that had allocated $185 million by the end of 2025.”
Goodlander wants Creegan’s office to investigate the past abuse as well as current conditions inside the facility. Under the banner of a civil rights case, the federal Department of Justice could impose conditions on the state to change its practices. It could also begin to take over criminal cases stemming from YDC/SYSC.
Attorney General John Formella responded: “The New Hampshire Department of Justice follows the facts, enforces the law, and pursues justice without fear or favor. The State continues to work to strengthen safety and security at the facility.
“The New Hampshire Department of Justice remains focused on accountability, transparency, and protecting children. It has investigated allegations of abuse at the Sununu Youth Services Center, brought criminal charges for past conduct, secured convictions for that conduct, conducted comprehensive reviews of recent allegations, publicly released its findings, and it will continue to take action as warranted,” Formella said.
Federal involvement in the YDC/SYSC scandals is exactly what survivors and their advocates have been demanding. When a recent report from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office cleared staff of criminal action happening this year inside SYSC, survivor David Meehan spoke out.
“They need the independent outside expert in juvenile justice and trauma-informed care that Disability Rights Center–New Hampshire demanded. And they need oversight independent enough to challenge the official record when the evidence requires it. I have carried this fight because I know what it costs when the state writes its own version of events into the permanent record and expects children and survivors to live inside it. That practice must end,” Meehan said.
Meehan is the survivor awarded $38 million in damages after his trial in 2024. The jury reached its verdict after hearing weeks of testimony about the hundreds of rapes Meehan suffered as a child, as well as the physical and physiological abuse he was subjected to inside the state system by state employees. New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella is currently appealing the verdict on the grounds the state should only have to pay $475,000.
Carleigh Beriont, a Democrat running for Congress in the 1st Congressional District primary, has been pushing for a federal intervention for more than a year.
“I’m hopeful they can do something about it,” Beriont said.
Getting the United States Department of Justice involved should have happened years ago, she said. The New Hampshire Department of Justice is in a clear conflict of interest when it comes to YDC/SYSC abuse. On the one hand, the state is investigating and prosecuting state employees, and on the other hand it is defending the state in civil cases brought by the people who were abused.
“The state’s credibility is undermined by them doing this, and people are tired of the state abusing people with less power,” Beriont said.
Attorney Michael Lewis, a former assistant attorney general, tried to get the federal Department of Justice involved in 2023 after watching the state’s conflicted handling of the scandal. But his request for federal involvement languished under former United States Attorney Jane Young. After months of waiting, he was finally told Young, the former New Hampshire Deputy Attorney General, could not do anything due to her own conflict from her former state job. Instead, Young’s federal prosecutors focused on prosecuting drug dealers, he said.
“We think we’re going to move the ball meaningfully in the war on drugs, and that’s more valuable than protecting children,” Lewis said.
Lewis blames Formella’s lack of leadership for allowing the conflict of interest to grow, and for seriously damaging the credibility of the state Department of Justice.
“He’s deployed too many resources to deny responsibility for me to credit him anymore,” Lewis said. “How can anybody trust them? … They have been pathetic, bordering on corrupt if not outwardly corrupt.”
Like Beriont, Lewis kept pushing current members of New Hampshire’s federal delegation to get involved, and candidates who aspire to the job. But so far, Goodlander is the first and only one to take action. Hopefully, she will not be the last.
“I’m challenging everyone in the state to be a leader,” Lewis said.