The teenager who was injured in a fight with another resident inside the state’s youth detention center Friday has undergone surgery for a broken femur and remains hospitalized.
The assault comes as the Division for Children, Youth and Families struggles to manage a facility the Attorney General’s office says is in a state of “chronic dysfunction” that has led to serious safety issues for children and staff.
Armed state troopers have been stationed inside the facility since June following incidents of vandalism and serious staff injuries caused by youth, including a brain injury, broken jaw, and broken nose.
The fight Friday evening that left a boy with a broken femur began in the gym, said Rep. Kim Rice, who helped lead a legislative investigation into physical abuse allegations at the Sununu Center, and Jason Taylor, an assistant child advocate for the state.
News of the injury distressed Rice, she said, because the investigative report she and other lawmakers released in May concluded that the Division for Children, Youth and Families was failing the children it is charged to protect.
“We have been sounding the alarm about the conditions there for months now and they're falling on deaf ears,” Rice said. “I'm very upset that our warnings were not met with the urgency they deserved.”
Sen. Victoria Sullivan, who joined Rice on the legislative investigation, said she was “deeply concerned” about the assault and has been in touch with Gov. Kelly Ayotte and the Attorney General’s office.
“I have made it clear that we are past the point of simply acknowledging the problem,” Sullivan said. “Action needs to be taken now, before conditions get worse and before another young person or staff member is seriously injured.”
Michael Garrity, spokesperson for the Attorney General's office, said Sunday the youth who caused the injuries has been charged criminally.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to questions about the charges or the incident.
Meanwhile, the Dr. Samantha Morin, who oversees clinical care at Sununu Youth Services Center for five years, is leaving.
Rice said she and other lawmakers were told last week that Morin had given her resignation. Morin helped run the Sununu Center between July 2025, when former director Gerald Rocha left, and January 2026, when the Division for Children, Youth and Families, named Joshua Nye director.
Nye resigned in May when Rice and other lawmakers called for his removal, citing “extreme failure of leadership.”
