A day after the Attorney General’s office sounded the alarm about dangerous staff shortages inside the state-run youth detention center, Executive Councilors voted on Wednesday to reinstate a contract for 18 temporary youth counselors.
That still leaves the Sununu Youth Services Center short of the number of employees state officials say is needed to keep youth and staff safe.
New Hampshire Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Weaver told councilors eight years of state budget cuts have led to staff cuts.
“That erosion over time has helped lead to where we are today,” Weaver told councilors. “So staffing is definitely one of the first and foremost things to be able to assure safety in the facility and we're running dangerously low right now.”
Councilors tabled the $1.3 million contract with Amergis Healthcare Staffing two weeks ago, citing concerns about background checks. Weaver determined the concerns were unfounded and warned councilors losing the contract could have dire consequences, with a 53% vacancy rate among the center’s 46 youth counselors.
The 56-page investigative report released Tuesday by the Attorney General’s office, prompted by allegations of the use of illegal restraints and an extended lockdown, carried the same warning.
The report said staff shortages — and the lack of trained staff — have left the facility unable to safely manage several volatile incidents, according to the report. It cited a series of assaults on May 3 that left several staff injured.
According to the report, that evening, five youth, one of whom had broken an employee’s jaw five months earlier, were under the supervision of two employees: a trained male youth counselor hired just two months earlier, and a female Department of Health and Human Services employee working an overtime shift at the facility to help mitigate staff shortages.
The incident began when the youth were given their weekly “levels,” which determine their privileges, such as later bedtimes and more time for phone calls.
Two youths became “extremely upset” after receiving lower levels than they anticipated, the report said. They focused their anger on the male counselor, prompting him to leave and go into the staff office, the report said. That left the female, who was not a youth counselor, “alone with five youth with a history of assaults,” according to the report.
One of the youth charged the female employee and a supervisor who’d been called to the scene. Meanwhile, two other youths charged the male employee inside the office, where he was alone, the report said. No other staff were available to respond because they were managing their own units.
Additional incidents of assault that night left five staff members injured, the report said. The incidents could not be “better contained due to an insufficient number of staff,” according to the report.
As of Wednesday, a "significant portion” of staff are out of work with injuries, including seven of the facility's eight supervisors, Weaver told councilors.
Six youth were assessed by medical staff, including two who alleged the male youth counselor had punched them. According to the report, those two youths “did not have any serious injuries.” It did not say whether the other four youth had injuries. The report said it was unclear from video footage whether the staff member punched the youth, and a criminal investigation into the incident is ongoing.
“Staff injuries left the facility short staffed in the days and weeks that followed, setting up the cycle to continue,” the report said. “In the days and weeks that followed, staff morale continued to plummet and youth continued to engage in dangerous misbehavior.”
On May 29, a state trooper was assaulted by youth while responding to an emergency call, according to the report. On June 2, a supervisor received stitches for a head injury caused by youth. On June 19, three youth took over a unit, locked out staff, and created weapons, according to the report.
State troopers have been stationed inside the center to maintain safety during staffing shortages since June 19.
