Lawmakers and advocates are raising fresh concerns about leadership at New Hampshire’s state-run youth detention center, as authorities continue to investigate a recent series of allegations of abuse against children held at the center.
On Monday, the Disability Rights Center in New Hampshire and the state’s Office of Child Advocate, an independent watchdog, said staff at the Sununu Youth Services Center continue to use illegal restraints when children don’t comply with orders.
The Disability Rights Center also said its recent interviews with children and staff indicate youth continue to be neglected and subject to seclusion at the center, even after the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office said last week there was no abuse occurring at the facility.
“Despite recent statements by the Attorney General’s office, there is no indication that the abuse at SYSC has stopped,” said Stephanie Patrick, executive director of the Disability Rights Center, in a statement.
A recent report by the Office of the Child Advocate concluded that the roughly 15 children currently being held in the Sununu Center were subjected to a nearly six-week lockdown earlier this year, and were denied full educational services and in some cases access to fresh air.
At least one resident suffered a broken bone during an illegal restraint by staff and did not receive required medical care for 48 hours, according to the Office of the Child Advocate.
The Disability Rights Center, the Attorney General’s office, and a legislative committee each launched investigations following the report from the Office of the Child Advocate.
At the legislative committee’s hearing Monday, lawmakers voiced frustration when Marie Noonan, director of the state’s Division for Children, Youth, Families, declined to answer several questions, citing the advice of the Attorney General’s office.
“I find it very upsetting that we're here to investigate, and we cannot answer any question about what happened,” said Rep. Kimberly Rice, a Hudson Republican. “This is our job. These are kids.”
Nighttime confrontations and military-style training
In the weeks since the Office of the Child Advocate’s initial report, staff have returned to the Sununu Center and say they have noted some improvements.
The Child Advocate’s latest report to lawmakers, made public Monday, notes that residents were now attending 3 ½ hours of classroom-based education each day, following the end of a facility-wide lockdown that saw little educational activities. It also said youth are reporting spending 30 minutes each day outside, in contrast to nearly no time spent outside during the extended lockdown.
Both the Disability Rights Center and the Office of the Child Advocate are questioning the military-style training staff receive, as well as what appears to be a new policy for how Sununu Center employees deal with children who resist doing what they are told, including going to their rooms at bedtime. They said the policy risks making matters worse by escalating behaviors and leading to more restraints.
Child Advocate Cassandra Sanchez told lawmakers Monday that employees are regularly going “hands-on” with youth by physically guiding them when they do not follow orders.
“From our standpoint, it's very concerning that the staff will be instructed to go hands-on with children if they are just refusing versus being an imminent risk to themselves or to somebody else, because at that moment, all they are doing is refusing to cooperate,” Sanchez said.
In a letter to Gov. Kelly Ayotte Friday, the Disability Rights Center said the law prohibits the state from restraining youth in this way. The group says the forceful guiding of residents back to their rooms “appears to be a purposeful effort to agitate the child through unnecessary and unwanted physical contact.”
Sanchez and the center are calling for an immediate end to the policy.
Read more: NH Child Advocate on new abuse allegations at state’s youth detention center
Some of the training Sununu Center staff members receive is also getting scrutiny.
For years, the facility has used a training platform developed by a private vendor, Controlled F.O.R.C.E., that Sanchez alleges lacks a focus on de-escalation and does not incorporate a “trauma-informed approach.” The Illinois-based company specializes in training law enforcement and members of the military.
As far back as 2010, the Disability Rights Center flagged the state’s use of the training. According to Controlled F.O.R.C.E.’s website, it is scheduled to provide training at the Sununu center next month designed to deal with responses to “non-compliant, surprise attackers, and highly aggressive/combative subjects.”
Among the tactics on the agenda are “takedowns,” “handcuff positioning,” and “in/out-of-holster weapon retention.”
Rice, a House member serving on the legislative committee, voiced concerns about aggressive responses to challenging behaviors by youth at the Sununu Center.
“This facility is supposed to be going in a trauma-informed care model,” Rice said. “It's the law.”
Center’s new director appears to lack experience with juvenile justice
The new scrutiny of conditions at the Sununu Center comes just months after a new director assumed control. Joshua Nye took over as the center’s bureau chief in January, after what Sanchez described as a period of unstable management.
“Changes in leadership can always create instability, so I think that's really what led to some of the changes that are happening,” Sanchez said in an interview with NHPR last week.
When the state posted the job listing to lead the center last year, it said its ideal candidate should have at least eight years of experience leading youth treatment or rehabilitation programs. According to Nye’s resume, he led one program that served youth for 18 months and appears to have little to no direct experience in juvenile justice.
Nye most recently worked as private counselor, adjunct college professor, and executive director of the Restoration Center, a residential treatment facility in Lowell, Massachusetts for adults involved with the court system.
Nye helped plan the program but left in September 2025, seven months before the center opened, according to Jean Yang, president and CEO of Vinfen, which employed Nye. Yang said the state never contacted her company with questions about Nye’s prior employment.
State Sen. Victoria Sullivan, who chairs the legislative committee tasked with investigating the abuse allegations at the Sununu Center, said she’s worried the center lacks the oversight needed to provide for the young people living there.
“Although I am not privy to the circumstances surrounding the hiring of Mr. Nye, I do believe we are seeing not only a leadership failure but a systemic failure when it comes to serving and protecting these children,” Sullivan told NHPR.
Since 2020, Nye has held a series of positions in behavioral health, none longer than two years. He spent 11 months as the clinical director for a treatment and recovery program for 18-to-24-year-olds in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and before that, managed programs for adult inmates at the Essex County Jail and Essex County sheriff’s office in Massachusetts.
Nye holds a masters degree in counseling, and is licensed as a clinical mental health counselor in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Nye did not attend Monday’s legislative oversight hearing and has declined to speak with NHPR. Jake Leon, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health and Human Services declined to answer specific questions about Nye’s training and experience.
The state health department “is responsible for ensuring the safety of the youth and staff at SYSC and we take these responsibilities very seriously,” Leon said in an email.
He added, “We are committed to reviewing all policies to make certain the highest standards of care and safety are in place for both the youth and staff. We are working across the agency and with our oversight bodies to ensure that no abuse is currently occurring at the facility and we are committed to safeguarding the youth and staff at the facility each and every day.”
A legacy of abuse
In recent years, more than 1,000 former residents have come forward alleging they were sexually and physically abused by staff over several decades. In recent years, leadership has sought to reform the Sununu Center and focus more on stabilizing children in crisis and offering a more therapeutic approach to care.
Listen: The Youth Development Center
Noonan, director of the Division of Youth, Children, and Families, said her office is committed to trauma-informed practices even as staff encounter challenging behaviors.
“The kids that meet criteria for detention or commitment today have more violent behaviors and are more challenging,” she said at Monday’s legislative hearing. “There's still kids that we want to serve in a trauma informed way, but they come with behaviors that are a bit more challenging.”
State Health Commissioner Lori Weaver also highlighted the risk to staff members who work inside the Sununu Center. In January, two state employees were injured — both employees are now out on paid medical leave. They joined eight other facility Sununu Center employees also currently on leave due to injuries, according to Weaver.
“Right now I have staff that have a broken jaw in two places,” Weaver said during an Executive Council meeting last week. “I have staff that have been attacked in parts of their body and have facial lacerations, and I share that just because it's serious on both sides."
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