Long Creek Youth Development Center

Some lawmakers, activists and criminal justice experts have been clamoring for years to close Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland.

The deepening staffing crisis at Maine’s only youth prison has grown so dire that teens are routinely locked in their cells during the day because there aren’t enough workers to supervise them, according to labor and watchdog groups.

The District Attorney for Cumberland County says he did a thorough review of the incidents that took place roughly a year ago, as well as an independent investigative report.

The investigation by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division found Maine's behavioral health providers had lengthy waitlists, inadequate coverage in rural areas, insufficient crisis services, and lacked support for foster parents of special needs children.

During a virtual forum organized by Maine Youth Justice, a grassroots advocacy group, the two candidates agreed on the need to expand community-based diversion programs, work on youth homelessness and address bias within the criminal justice system.

Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty told members of the legislature's Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Friday that he'll accelerate the timeline for finding alternative housing for most youth in the Department's care.

The controversial and dangerous tactic involves putting youth on their stomachs in a prone position and applying pressure to their backs which can cause asphyxiation. That use of that force is now the subject of an investigation.

Gov. Janet Mills has vetoed a bill that would have developed a plan for closing the Long Creek Youth Development Center and redirected funding toward community-based alternatives.

Maine lawmakers, youth advocates and the Department of Corrections are grappling with how best to reform the state's juvenile justice system. Last year a…

The Maine Department of Corrections (DOC) announced Thursday that results of COVID-19 testing for staff and residents of the Long Creek Youth Development…