Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander has asked the New Hampshire U.S. Attorney’s Office to launch a federal investigation into current and past conditions at the state’s youth detention facility, which is embroiled in a long-standing child abuse scandal.
More than 2,000 claims have been filed by individuals alleging they were abused as children while in state custody over the past six decades, primarily at the Youth Development Facility in Manchester, now known as the Sununu Youth Services Center. Goodlander’s request for an independent federal investigation echoes similar requests that civil plaintiffs and their lawyers have repeatedly made.
“The factual record here spans decades, and it involves many players at the state and federal level,” Goodlander said in an interview.
Over the past several months, individuals currently held at the facility have come forward with new allegations of mistreatment, prompting several state-level investigations.
Last month, the state’s Office of the Attorney General released a 56-page report into those allegations, finding that no laws had been broken. However, its investigation found that the facility “operates with a high degree of dysfunction at all levels.”
In her letter to U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan, Goodlander questioned whether the state attorney general’s office was best positioned to investigate current conditions at the facility, given that it is also defending against the civil claims that have been filed.
“A neutral federal assessment would carry an independence that internal state processes, however well-intentioned, may not,” Goodlander wrote.
Attorney General John Formella did not directly respond to a question about whether he supported or opposed a federal investigation, but he defended his agency’s handling of its own investigation.
“The New Hampshire Department of Justice follows the facts, enforces the law and pursues justice without fear or favor,” Formella wrote in a statement.
“The New Hampshire Department of Justice remains focused on accountability, transparency and protecting children,” he added. “It has investigated allegations of abuse at the Sununu Youth Services Center, brought criminal charges for past conduct, secured convictions for that conduct, conducted comprehensive reviews of recent allegations, publicly released its findings, and it will continue to take action as warranted.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said his office is aware of Goodlander’s request, but he said the office doesn’t generally comment on the status of federal investigations.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which operates the youth detention facility, referred a request for comment to the Office of the Attorney General.
Goodlander, a Democrat, is the first member of New Hampshire’s federal delegation to make such a request publicly.
In 2023, Creegan’s predecessor, Jane Young, recused herself when her office was asked by a Concord lawyer and former state assistant attorney general to launch a federal investigation because she had previously worked for the state attorney general’s office, the Boston Globe reported at the time.
Goodlander is making her request under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act. The law allows the federal government to investigate “residential institutions” operated by states. Goodlander proposed that Creegan’s office could partner on an investigation with the Department of Justice’s civil rights division.
An investigation, by law, is “methodical and fact-based,” Goodlander wrote.
“Most matters resolve through a negotiated settlement agreement or consent decree containing concrete, enforceable reforms overseen by an independent monitor who reports publicly,” she added.
Goodlander also noted that Creegan’s office has the authority to bring federal criminal charges against individuals found to have abused children, though she stopped short of calling for the Department of Justice to take specific prosecutorial steps.
