New Hampshire is moving toward greatly expanding the scope of its out-of-court settlement process to compensate victims of abuse at the state's youth detention center.
FILE - The Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester, N.H., stands among trees, Jan. 28, 2020. The New Hampshire Senate on Thursday, March 21, 2024, passed legislation to greatly expand the scope of the out-of-court settlement process to compensate victims of abuse at the state’s youth detention center. CONCORD, N.H.
The Senate voted unanimously and without debate Thursday to make sweeping changes to the settlement process, including adding multiple new categories of abuse. Under the current system, former center residents can make claims based on sexual assault or first- and second-degree physical assault.
The bill, which now goes to the House, also increases the cap on awards. Currently, victims of sexual assault are eligible for up to $1.5 million, while payments for physical abuse are limited to $150,000. If the bill passes, victims of “egregious sexual abuse” would be eligible for up to $2.5 million, victims of non-sexual abuse could get up to $250,000 and those claiming they were held in solitary confinement could get up to $100,000.
So far, 307 claims have been filed and 102 have been settled, with an average award of $492,000, Attorney General John Formella told lawmakers last month. The scandal came to light in 2019 after two former workers were charged with abusing David Meehan, a former resident who filed the first lawsuit in 2020 and has gone public with his story. Eleven former workers are
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