News Center Maine - Nine adults who stayed at the former Maine Youth Center in the 1990s are suing the Maine Department of Corrections (MDOC) and 58 other defendants, claiming they were abused while at the South Portland facility. The lawsuit, filed Friday, names 59 defendants, including the MDOC and psychologists, supervisors, counselors involved at the facility, now known as Long Creek Youth Development Center.
"This wasn't just a couple of rogue guards. This was a policy. This was the Maine Youth Center custom was to treat kids like this," attorney Tom Hallett, who is representing the plaintiffs, said.
Court documents claim the plaintiffs were beaten, sexually assaulted, and locked in isolation for months at a time. The suit said the abuse caused the plaintiffs, now in their 40s, trauma that has lasted into adulthood.
"I think all of them want to have their stories known, get heard, and have society understand what society was doing to them," Hallett said. "We're the people that run the Maine Youth Center, right? It's the state of Maine. So this is the citizens of the state of Maine torturing its young. And we've all got to be aware of that."