By Ward Peck

Editor

    In the last few years, South Portland’s Long Creek
Youth Development Center has been dealing with a handful of allegations
of abuse of residents at the hands of workers in the facility.  In
July 2006, former Day One substance abuse councilor Kristi Higgins was
cleared of sexual abuse charges stemming from a relationship with a
former resident of the facility. The relationship was found to have
started after the youth had been released from the facility and his
professional relationship with Higgins had ended, according to news
reports.

    Angela Theriault, a former inmate supervisor
employed by the Department of Corrections will soon go on trial.
Theriault is accused of carrying on a sexual relationship with a
juvenile resident while the resident was working outside the facility.
According to Theriault, that trial is set to begin March 1.

    For Long Creek Superintendent Rodney Bouffard, the
media’s focus on what has gone wrong at the facility overshadows the
many successes achieved on a daily basis at the facility.

    Long Creek, one of two youth incarceration
facilities in Maine, serves the southern half of the state from Kittery
to Wiscasset. It has received accolades from a number of accreditation
organizations.

    The American Correctional Association (ACA) found
Long Creek achieved a 100 percent compliance of mandatory standards and
a 99 percent compliance with all non-mandatory standards. The ACA audit
rates facilities on more than 430 standards. Less than 20 percent of
juvenile facilities receive ACA accreditation.

    Long Creek’s model is that of a reformatory rather
than a place to warehouse troubled youth for the duration of their
sentences, although the 19th century idea of a reformatory bears little
resemblance to what takes place within Long Creek's walls.

     Maine is one of a handful of states that use
indeterminate sentencing guidelines for youth offenders. With
indeterminate sentencing, residents are required to achieve a certain
level of improvement in life skills before they are released, rather
than waiting out a sentence set at a predetermined duration.

    “There are five things that if we fix, will result
in a strong probability that a kid will succeed,” Bouffard said. “Those
things are: family situation, school and work, values and beliefs,
substance abuse and peer relations.”

    Care plans and treatment plans are developed for
each resident, outlining their challenges and goals. As the youths
achieve those goals and demonstrate good behavior skills they move up a
hierarchy of phase and sub-phase levels from one to four. As a resident
moves to a higher phase, he or she is granted more freedom.

    Bouffard said inmates are followed even after they
are released. Each must be reinterviewed 30 days after their release
date. If it is determined that the youth is slipping back into old
habits, they are readmitted.

    "We don't have to wait until they are arrested again," Bouffard said.

    Indeterminate sentencing allows residents at Long
Creek to be given opportunities unprecedented in youth incarceration
facilities. Residents who have advanced enough in their care often work
outside of the facility and some  even attended classes at public
high schools and local colleges such as the University of Southern
Maine and Southern Maine Community College.

    For the majority of residents who do not attend
classes outside the facility, Long Creek has its own school based upon
the “Learning for Life” model, know as the A.R. Gould School. Residents
learn about the core subjects of math, English, history and science
through vocational skills such as carpentry, graphic arts and culinary
arts.

    “If a kid is here a year, he or she will improve a
year and three months academically,” Bouffard said. “The average state
passing grade for the G.E.D. [graduate equivalency degree] is 89. At
Long Creek it is 96.”

    One resident made available during a tour of the
facility claimed that when he arrived at Long Creek shortly after his
17th birthday, he had the academic credentials of a freshman in high
school. Shortly before his 18th birthday, he had the credentials of a
freshman in college and is currently taking college-level classes
through a distance-learning program, he said. The resident also took
part in a candidate’s forum at the facility last fall, allowing
residents to quiz candidates such as Gov. John Baldacci and Chandler
Woodcock on policies they would pursue.

    But even the residents with success stories stumble.
That same resident had achieved the highest phase level, a 4-4 allowing
him to work off site. While he was offsite, he and another resident
fled to their hometowns. When he was returned to the facility, he was
bumped down to the lowest phase. Asked why he would take such a risk,
the resident cited “issues at home,” and “not thinking clearly.”

    In addition to academic programs, the facility
offers programs that teach residents about astronomy and crocheting–
which seems oddly popular with the male population but is limited to
higher phased residents due to availability of knitting hooks.

    Bouffard acknowledged violence is a concern among
the population. He said there are currently two gangs operating within
the facility.

    “Since that element has come in, we’ve needed to establish more security policies,” Bouffard said.

    The facility itself– viewed during a tour scheduled
well ahead of the visit– is clean and quiet and is more reminiscent of
a public high school than a prison. The hallways were largely empty
except for an occasional resident being escorted by a staff member or a
group of residents walking single-file to the lunchroom. The tour was
limited to the male wing.

    Residents are organized into units that can house a
maximum of 30 individuals segregated by age and risk-level. In addition
to three staff members assigned to each pod, volunteers, councilors,
mentors and other volunteers were ubiquitous.

    According to Bouffard, Long Creek currently hosts 121 active volunteers.

    Each unit consists of a “day room” or common area
for the unit’s residents. There are meeting rooms and offices as well
as a closet-size “time out” room with a window in the door. Initially
conceived as a form of punishment, the time out rooms have become a
privilege for residents who use it to perform activities without being
disturbed.

    Each unit is further divided into pods consisting of
10 single-occupancy rooms, bathroom and shower facilities around a
common area. Residents’ rooms are locked and can only be opened from a
control room located within the day room. Two shower rooms are
available to residents, with enough room available for a single
resident to undress, shower and dress before exiting.

    Among the statistics cited by Bouffard, the one any
incarceration facility is ultimately  judged upon is the
recidivism rate: how many residents find themselves locked up again
after being released.

    According to statistics cited by Bouffard, the
national recidivism rate for juveniles is 40 percent, former Long Creek
residents return at a rate of 15 percent.

    Long Creek did not always enjoy an esteemed
reputation, but Bouffard said many of the facilities shortcomings exist
in the past and is confident improvement will continue during his
tenure.