Attorney General’s Office finds no recent systemic abuse at Sununu Center, contradicting watchdog

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office says a multi-month review found no evidence of recent systemic abuse at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester and concluded that the facility is “operating within legal boundaries” — contradicting concerns by a state watchdog. 

In a 56-page report released Tuesday, the Attorney General’s Office said that while it did find staffing problems and general leadership failures at the juvenile detention and treatment facility, it did not find evidence of physical abuse of youth by staff. 

The report attempts to refute findings by the Office of the Child Advocate, the state’s watchdog for children’s services, and the Disability Rights Center-New Hampshire. In March, the child advocate released its own report containing a complaint that a child at the facility had broken a bone after being held by staff in a restraint in an “illegal prone position” for 3½ minutes. At the time, the watchdog said it had reviewed video footage of the restraint and had filed an abuse and neglect report on behalf of the child with the Division for Children, Youth and Families.

The OCA raised broader concerns in its March report, too. During a March 13 surprise site visit prompted by a call of concern from a child, the watchdog said it had heard complaints of a recent crackdown carried out at the facility. Staff had imposed a six-week lockdown, denying children fresh air, temporarily ending education services, limiting exercise time, and requiring permission for water or bathroom breaks, the OCA alleged.

Those conclusions came after a six-hour site visit in which the OCA interviewed staff members and some children at the facility one-on-one, the OCA said.

Tuesday’s report from the Attorney General’s Office comes to opposite conclusions. After interviewing 40 people and reviewing thousands of documents and 300 hours of video footage, the state concluded that the injured child had broken his own hand by punching a window and that the prone restraints used on that child “were appropriately limited to short periods.”

The state’s report also disputed the alleged six-week lockdown. Instead, the report concluded that the facility has put in place an “initial restriction period” of one week, followed by a “modified schedule” period to respond to severe safety threats, including youth assaults on staff. 

The report said the one-week period had been implemented after one resident broke a staff member’s jaw in January and another armed himself with debris near a dangerous, empty swimming pool. It found the week of restrictions was meant as a “reset” after escalations of violence and meant that all residents had to eat and conduct all activities within one of four units and could not intermingle. And it said facility leaders began gradually phasing out the restrictions in the days and weeks after they began. 

Cassandra Sanchez, the outgoing child advocate who oversaw the March investigation, did not immediately respond to the attorney general’s investigation Tuesday. 

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But while the attorney general’s report dismissed many of the allegations raised by the OCA, it did raise its own, larger concerns.

The state report found that staffing levels are dangerously low, leading to unsafe conditions, forced overtime, and burnout. It recommended wage increases and additional legislative funding for the facility.

It also drew attention to a disconnect between the security concerns of residential staff and the treatment priorities of clinical staff, and noted that some residential staff felt that the focus on trauma-informed practices sometimes inhibited safety. The report argued for the need for body-worn cameras among staff.

Finally, the report was critical of the leadership of former Sununu Center bureau chief Joshua Nye, who resigned in May. The Attorney General’s Office found that he “lacked the professional maturity” to manage the facility and “intentionally avoided using written communications.” It recommended hiring a more experienced bureau chief and establishing a more unified philosophy for the facility.

Reacting to the report Tuesday, Gov. Kelly Ayotte noted its conclusion that the staff has not broken the law and fixated on the staffing issue. 

“While the SYSC is operating within the law, there are unacceptable systemic issues that must be addressed,” Ayotte said in a statement. 

The governor said she had instructed the Department of Health and Human Services to immediately begin implementing body-worn cameras and addressing staffing shortages.

“The state will work together with stakeholders to ensure the SYSC is a safe, respectful environment for both staff and youth,” she said.