Justice for Staff Forgotten in the YDC Scandal

As a former YDC/SYSC House Leader and Residential Supervisor, I certainly would have been aware of abuse of any resident in any one of the cottages I worked at—and especially at SYSC as a supervisor.

On campus there were cottages that housed different classifications of residents. There was maximum security (King & East Cottages), Intake (Cox Cottage), a girls cottage (Sanders), medium security (Pinecrest, Riverview & Spaulding), Wilkins—which was closed soon after I was hired—Friendship House, right downtown Manchester on Lowell Street, and Stark House, a 20-bed boys facility just off campus on River Road. I was the House Leader of Stark House from 1991 to 2001.

When the new building (SYSC) was built and dedicated in April of 2006, soon thereafter I was promoted to Residential Supervisor. As a supervisor, I was privy to restraints, assaults, room confinement, injuries, and other incidents. Those incidents were first reported in log books, then on incident reports. Administrators, treatment coordinators, supervisors, house leaders, medical staff, and other staff in positions of authority would be aware of and respond to those reports.

In my 39 years at YDC/SYSC, I was a Youth Counselor I on the night shift, a Youth Counselor II at East Cottage, a Youth Counselor III at Pinecrest, a House Leader for King, Cox, Sanders, and Stark House, and a supervisor at SYSC for my last seven years until I retired in 2014.

In all those years, I saw some poorly executed restraints, some inappropriate staff responses to rule violations, and some measures that required discipline of staff. But never in my career did I witness any sexual abuse.

All these 1,500-plus "victims," most of whom are coming forward looking for a payday from the state, are undoubtedly motivated by greed. I would advise these misguided souls to accept responsibility for their own actions and tell the truth. And to those lawyers—what you are doing is shameful.

The vast majority of staff I worked with were honest, professional, hard-working people just doing a very difficult job. They were not abusive. To state officials, I suggest you call on your better angels and stop ruining the lives of innocent former staff.

And how about answering some of the questions asked by this publication? Why did it take these former residents 20 to 30 years to “remember” they were abused? How can jurors come to a verdict with just one side of the story and no evidence? And what about the $100–150 million payout fund paid with taxpayer money?

Is it justice to just settle with these “victims” with the presumption that everyone who worked at YDC is guilty of a terrible crime, or that we “looked the other way”? No. Didn’t happen.

Those of us who devoted our lives to that institution can no longer speak with pride about the work we did there, as the media has painted all of us with a broad brush. So unfair.

Lawyers and officials ask, “What about justice for our young people?” I ask, “What about justice for those innocent staff?” Jim Peace is a former YDC/SYSC Youth Counselor, House Leader and Supervisor