New Hampshire Juvenile Detention Center Abuse Lawsuits

Since 2020, nearly 1,300 survivors have come forward with harrowing accounts of abuse inside YDC. These allegations include rape, violent beatings, and emotional torture spanning from the 1960s through the 2010s. Lawsuits claim that state employees not only committed these crimes but operated with impunity for decades, protected by a system designed to hide abuse rather than stop it.

Our sex abuse lawyers are helping victims of juvenile detention center sex abuse get the compensation they deserve. Contact us at 800-553-8082 or reach out to us online for a free case evaluation.

What

Is the Youth Development Center?

YDC was established in the 1850s as New Hampshire’s flagship juvenile detention facility. Originally envisioned as a progressive alternative to adult incarceration for children, YDC instead became a symbol of systemic failure. The facility housed children for a wide range of reasons—from violent offenses to minor misbehavior, like running

away or petty theft. But no matter the reason for confinement, the conditions inside YDC were often the same: dangerous, secretive, and abusive.

The Scale of Abuse and Institutional Failure at YDC

What occurred inside New Hampshire’s Youth Development Center was not an isolated string of misconduct—it was a decades-long institutional failure. From top-level administrators to overnight staff, those entrusted with protecting vulnerable children instead created, tolerated, and concealed a system of sustained abuse. The facility became a closed-off environment where children were dehumanized, their pleas for help ignored, and their abusers shielded by bureaucracy, secrecy, and fear.

This horror show was not merely negligence. It was a willful failure to act, reinforced by a culture that prioritized institutional reputation and internal loyalty over the safety and dignity of the children in its

custody. That failure laid the foundation for the atrocities that hundreds of staff members would carry out across multiple generations.

 Over 300 Staff Members Are Accused

The lawsuits filed against New Hampshire’s Youth Development Center (YDC) paint a disturbing picture of institutional failure. More than 300 former staff members have been named in civil complaints, accused of carrying out or enabling sexual, physical, and psychological abuse against incarcerated children.

These allegations span from the 1960s through the 2010s, revealing a deeply embedded culture of cruelty and impunity. Many survivors describe being beaten, raped, or emotionally tormented, often by the same staff members—year after year, decade after decade. Despite recurring accusations involving the same individuals, the state repeatedly failed to intervene.

One plaintiff described being committed to YDC in the 1960s for something as minor as stealing Silly Putty. What followed was a nightmare of sexual assault and systemic mistreatment. His story is not an outlier—it is a reflection of how

minor infractions or even child welfare concerns led vulnerable youth into environments where predators employed by the state targeted them.

 Secrecy and Retaliation

The abuse persisted in part due to New Hampshire’s strict juvenile confidentiality laws, which, while designed to protect youth privacy, created an opaque system where wrongdoing could flourish unchallenged.

Whistleblowers who tried to expose misconduct were often silenced. Children who attempted to report abuse were met with disbelief, indifference, or retribution. Many survivors recount being punished, isolated, or further abused after speaking out.

This culture of silence extended to staff. Former YDC employee Karen Lemoine came forward decades later with disturbing stories of cruelty and cover-ups. She reported:

• Seeing suspicious bruising on children

• Staff mocking a suicidal youth, exacerbating his mental health struggles

• A pervasive “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude toward physical and sexual abuse

After voicing her concerns, Lemoine says she was targeted for retaliation. In one terrifying incident, the lug nuts on her truck were loosened, causing her wheels to fall off while driving

home—a near-lethal warning to remain quiet. It sounds like a too-awful-to-be-true movie, right? Internal memos later confirmed her claims.

Criminal Charges and Limited Justice

Despite the overwhelming volume of allegations, only nine former staff members currently face criminal charges. These include some of the most egregious allegations of rape, sexual coercion, and physical torture. One prominent figure—Lucien Poulette, named in multiple lawsuits—has been indicted but maintains his innocence and awaits trial.

Several barriers have stymied criminal accountability:

• Statutes of limitations and evidence challenges due to the age of many cases

• Death or incapacity of many accused individuals, some of whom were in their 80s when named

• Survivors’ understandable fear and trauma delayed disclosure for decades

These obstacles have left many survivors feeling abandoned by the justice system. Some describe a “double standard”—how they were swiftly

punished as children for petty crimes, while the adults who sexually assaulted and tortured them have faced few or no consequences. It is very easy to see why survivors see it that way.

David Meehan and the $38 Million Verdict

David Meehan’s trial served as a turning point. During testimony, he detailed years of sexual and physical abuse by YDC staff and highlighted how the system treated him as disposable due to his juvenile record. The state attempted to deflect responsibility, blaming “rogue” employees. But the jury saw through that argument, holding the state of New Hampshire accountable

for systemic abuse under its watch.

Meehan’s bravery inspired hundreds of other survivors to come forward.

The New Hampshire YDC Settlement Fund: A Partial Path to Justice

As the wave of lawsuits against the Youth Development Center continued to grow—with over 1,300 survivors coming forward since 2020—New Hampshire lawmakers faced increasing public pressure to respond. In 2022, the state created the New Hampshire YDC

Settlement Fund, a mechanism intended to provide streamlined compensation to victims of sexual and physical abuse while avoiding the logistical and emotional burden of hundreds of individual trials.

Structure and Compensation Formula

The YDC Settlement Fund uses a tiered compensation formula to assign specific monetary values to categories of abuse. It also includes add-on amounts for aggravating factors, such as pregnancy or lasting injury. While this formula allows for more efficient resolution of claims, it makes many victims feel like the traumatic experiences they endured are now being reduced to arithmetic that is both cold and unfair.

Here are examples of how the compensation is calculated:

The fund also applies multipliers based on frequency, meaning a survivor alleging repeated abuse could receive significantly more than the base amount. However, emotional and psychological trauma—which often defines the lifelong impact of childhood

abuse—is not clearly weighted in the fund’s framework, raising concerns about the subjectivity of harm being converted into standardized categories.

A History of Settlements and Growing Settlements and Jury Pay9uots

Despite the fund’s creation, several high-profile survivors have opted to pursue civil litigation, often receiving substantially larger awards or settlements than the formula would allow.

• David Meehan – Jury Award: $38 Million (2024)

David Meehan was the first survivor to go to trial, and his $38 million verdict marked the largest personal injury award in New Hampshire’s history. Meehan alleged he was raped and beaten hundreds of times while at YDC in the 1990s. His trial drew national attention and set the tone for both public outcry and legislative action.

The state is currently challenging that verdict, seeking to reduce the award to $475,000, citing a statutory damages cap. This legal maneuver has outraged many advocates and survivors who see it as what it is: an attempt to minimize the state’s accountability.

• Michael Gilpatrick – Settlement: $10 Million (2025)

Gilpatrick, another former YDC resident, settled his lawsuit for $10 million—more than four times the fund’s maximum payout for similar allegations. Gilpatrick testified that he was gang-raped by staff in a stairwell and repeatedly assaulted during his incarceration in the 1990s. His

case was set to become the second to go to trial, but the state settled in what many observers interpreted as a tacit acknowledgment of the veracity and severity of his claims.

Settlement Fund Closure and Lasting Impact

Initially launched in 2022 as a $100 million settlement fund, the New Hampshire YDC Settlement Fund was created to provide expedited compensation to survivors of sexual and physical abuse at the Sununu Youth Services Center and other state-run juvenile facilities. By the time the filing window closed on December 31, 2024, the fund had distributed over $156 million to survivors, surpassing initial legislative projections by more than 50%.

The scale of payouts underscores not only the vast number of credible claims but also the depth of institutional failure that persisted for decades.

The Fund Is Now Closed to New Claims

As of January 1, 2025, the fund is no longer accepting new applications. Survivors who did not submit a claim by the deadline may now have only one remaining path to justice: civil litigation. This shift dramatically raises the stakes for both survivors and the state, particularly as high-profile lawsuits continue to move forward in court.

Limitations of the YDC Fund Remain Controversial

Although the fund provided a streamlined alternative to litigation, you might be better off missing the settlement deadline.  Here is why:

• Low Compensation Tiers: This was the biggest problem.. The settlement payouts that victims received based on the chart above are just too low. Many survivors received awards that were significantly lower than jury verdicts or private settlements. For instance, Michael Gilpatrick received $10 million in a civil settlement, which was over 20 times the average fund payout.

• Impersonal Process: The fund’s standardized formula, while efficient, was seen by many survivors as dehumanizing and emotionally hollow.

• No Formal Accountability: The state did not admit wrongdoing in connection with most payouts, leaving many victims without acknowledgment or closure.e.

 Civil Litigation Now Takes Center Stage

With the fund closed, survivors who were excluded, undervalued, or silenced may now pursue civil lawsuits as their only path to justice. These lawsuits allow survivors to:

• • Seek full compensation based on the individual facts of their case

  • Hold the state and its agencies publicly accountable

  • Expose specific perpetrators and institutional

    enablers through discovery and testimony

  • Pursue punitive damages, which were not available under the fund

Facilities Where Abuse Occurred: Who May Have a Case

Many survivors of juvenile detention abuse in New Hampshire were placed in lesser-known satellite institutions, not just the central Youth Development Center (YDC). These facilities often operated under the same state oversight, with similar patterns of misconduct, secrecy, and institutional failure.

If you or a loved one were abused while held in any of the following juvenile facilities, you may be eligible to pursue a civil lawsuit or, if applicable, compensation through prior settlement mechanisms. Our legal team can help determine whether your facility and case qualify.

Facilities Known to House Abused Youth

• Youth Development Center (YDC) / Sununu Youth Services Center
  Located in Manchester, this is New Hampshire’s central juvenile detention center and the subject of the state’s largest abuse investigation. Hundreds of civil claims have been filed stemming from abuse here.

• State Industrial School
  A predecessor to modern juvenile facilities, this institution has been named in lawsuits involving abuse dating back to the 1960s and 1970s.

• Philbrook School
  Operated as a residential and educational facility for adjudicated youth, with allegations of physical and psychological mistreatment.

• Tobey Special Education School
  Though focused on special education, this facility housed youth under court supervision and has been linked to claims of mistreatment by staff.

• Mount Prospect Academy
  A residential facility that has come under scrutiny for systemic neglect and failures in protecting youth from harm.

• Nashua Children’s Home
  A long-standing facility for youth in crisis, now named in investigations surrounding inadequate supervision and failure to prevent staff abuse.

• Jolicoeur School
  Another state-contracted juvenile placement is involved in ongoing litigation related to staff-on-youth abuse.

• Other State-Licensed Juvenile Placements
  Survivors from any other state-operated

  or licensed juvenile detention or treatment facility in New Hampshire may also have legal options. Abuse in lesser-known or short-lived programs is just as valid and serious.

Filing Deadlines and Legal Options for Survivors

The New Hampshire Youth Development Center Settlement Fund accepted claims from January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2024. That filing window is now closed, and the fund is no longer accepting new claims. For many survivors, this deadline may feel like a missed opportunity, but it is important to understand that other legal avenues remain available.

New Hampshire law now provides survivors of childhood sexual abuse with the right to file a civil lawsuit at any time, regardless of when the abuse occurred. In 2020, the state passed legislation eliminating the statute of limitations for civil claims involving sexual abuse. This means there is no time limit on when a survivor can bring a case, even if the abuse happened decades ago.

If you were sexually abused while confined in the Youth Development Center (now the Sununu Youth Services Center) or any other juvenile facility in New Hampshire, you are still be eligible to file a lawsuit. You do not need to have participated in the settlement fund to pursue justice. You likely still have a valid case even if the person who abused you was never arrested, never charged, or is no longer living.

Our legal team works with survivors to evaluate these cases confidentially and with care. We can help you understand how the current law applies to your experience and advise you on whether you may have a strong civil claim. The law now recognizes that the effects of abuse

can last a lifetime, and your right to hold those responsible accountable does not expire.