YDC settlement bill signed into law over survivor advocates' objections

May 29—Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law a $100 million fund to compensate victims of abuse at the state's juvenile detention facilities over advocates' objections that the bill's narrow definitions of abuse and limits on payment for survivors "only benefit the perpetrator."

Before Sununu signed the bill into law Friday, officially creating the fund for likely hundreds of people abused as children in the state-run facilities including the Youth Development Center, now known as the Sununu Youth Services Center, the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence sent the governor a blistering letter, underlining criticism the group and other abuse-survivor advocates raised as the bill made its way through the Legislature.

The letter criticized the bill's effort to standardize payments for abuse that varied widely in degree and nature, slammed the two-year look-back window as not enough time for survivors to process abuse, and said narrow definitions of abuse in the law will omit many survivors who suffered in state custody.

"I should never have put faith in the State to create a fair settlement process," read the statement from survivor Dwayne Underwood, included in a letter sent to Sununu last Tuesday, May 24, by Lyn Schollett, executive director of the coalition.

The coalition, attorneys representing survivors, and other abuse-survivor advocacy groups had asked the state legislature to raise the caps on claims above the $1.5 million maximum set in the new law, to expand the definitions of abuse, and to lengthen the amount of time for survivors to file claims.

"Unfortunately, the legislature voted not to adopt these critical measures and instead endorsed an approach that should in no way be used by other states," Schollett wrote, asking that if the bill were signed into law, the state not represent the process it lays out as victim-centered or trauma-informed.

After Sununu signed the bill into law Friday, his Attorney General, John Formella, called the process victim-centered and trauma-informed in a statement, as he has in earlier public statements defending the bill against criticism from abuse survivors and their advocates.

"This new law creates a claims resolution process that provides a trauma informed and victim centered alternative to traditional litigation," Formella's statement read. "No victim is required to use this process, but it is my hope that this bill will provide an avenue for much needed healing and compensation for many of these victims."

In a statement later Friday, the Department of Justice stood by its characterization of the bill, and disagreed with the coalition.

The fund and the settlement process were proposed to help survivors get compensation for their abuse more quickly than through a lawsuit, and through a process that would not be public. The law also states that by putting in a request for compensation from this fund, survivors give up their right to sue the state or any state employees later over abuse at state detention facilities, even over abuse not considered by this settlement fund.

In December, Formella asked a judge to throw out dozens of lawsuits filed by victims of abuse in state facilities, saying the complaints did not contain enough detail. State prosecutors are also pursuing criminal charges against 10 former employees of the Youth Development Center for physical and sexual abuse charges.

The new law will give survivors a two-year window to apply for compensation from the fund. They would submit statements and evidence, and a state-appointed administrator would decide what amount a victim's abuse merits: up to $150,000 for physical abuse and up to $1.5 million for sexual abuse. Filing a request for compensation strips a survivor of his or her right to decide to sue the state for abuse, even if the state administrator decides not to grant any compensation, or grants a low amount.

The limits were set by examining average settlements in similar cases, but Schollett said those cases were cherry-picked, and added that averages don't account for the variation in victims' experiences — which are alleged to have included dozens of repeated rapes of children, repeated violent beatings, prolonged solitary confinement, with victims as young as 11.

An attorney who represents 500 people who survived childhood abuse at state facilities, David Vicinanzo, said in April that $100 million was not enough to cover the hurt caused by the state, adding that a $150,000 limit for physical abuse is lower than a cap on damages set by other state laws. The fund's administrator can ask the legislature for more money for victims, but legislators are not bound to pass more money for the fund.

Physical and sexual abuse are also defined within narrow parameters in the new law. Schollett noted those parameters would leave out other kinds of abuse alleged by survivors.

One survivor quoted in Schollett's letter, Andrew Greene, said he suffered physical abuse but said there was a "sexual nature" to his torment, with a guard physically abusing Greene while he was made to be naked.

But Greene's abuse would likely not count as "sexual abuse" under the new law, because his abuser did not subject him to sexual contact or penetration — so he could only be eligible for up to $150,000 in compensation through this fund, though he said the abuse derailed his life and haunts him, many years later.

"I still have nightmares at 31 years old," Greene said in his statement. "An abused child that suffered at multiple state-run facilities is still in me today."