InDepthNH.org (https://indepthnh.org/tag/david-vicinanzo/)
The attorney representing 800 victims who were physically, sexually and emotionally abused as children incarcerated by the state says it’s time to reform confidentiality laws that keep the public from knowing what is happening at the Sununu Youth Services Center.
MANCHESTER – Less than a month after police were called to the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester for a report of a “riot,” police were called for more trouble three times so far Friday and today to the locked juvenile facility, although officials won’t say what happened.
The state does not want a former guard at the Sununu Youth Services Center, also called YDC in Manchester, being prosecuted for allegedly raping dozens of children to testify in the civil lawsuit representing victims, claiming he is too frail to talk.
However, the three Democrats on the 10-member committee voted to reject the revised plan saying the proposal is still difficult for victims to navigate, does not properly acknowledge the trauma the abuse inflicted, and will compensate most victims well below the statutory cap of $1.5 million.
The lead survivor in the civil lawsuit against the state for physical, sexual and emotional abuse he and hundreds of others suffered as children in state custody spoke out as part of a second letter to Attorney General John Formella this week criticizing the proposed process for compensating victims.
A new complaint in the lawsuit against YDC contains horrific allegations backed by a former guard saying staff encouraged one resident to kill himself by slipping razor blades under his door, orchestrated a campaign that led to him being raped and then recruited older residents to rape the former guard who is now speaking out.
One of the lawsuits filed against the state and contractors that provide juvenile services raises questions about the leadership of Mount Prospect Academy in Plymouth where some of the 700 people suing the state say they were abused as children in state custody.
As a child, he endured more horrific abuse than most people could bear, according to his civil lawsuit – one of hundreds against the state and its contractors for decades-long mistreatment of children in state custody.
Merrimack Superior Court Judge Andrew Schulman has cleared the way for hundreds of Sununu Youth Services Center abuse survivors to sue the state over the horrific abuse and decades of coverup by state leaders.