My heart goes out to the family of Charles Maisie Knowles (who died in state custody this month), the staff members and young residents of the Long Creek Youth Development Center, as well as those within the greater community who are feeling this loss on a very personal level.

It is heart-wrenching to remain silent; however, as the commissioner of the Maine Department of Corrections, I am legally bound to refrain from comments about an ongoing investigation.

As a clinical psychologist with a 25-year history of advocating for children and families, I certainly understand the critical role of ongoing emotional support following such a tragic loss of a young life. In the past 20 years, the Maine Department of Corrections has not experienced the death of one of our young residents. Our staff at Long Creek has and will continue to provide a safe space for all our young residents.

On a daily basis the dedicated men and women working at Long Creek try to support and strengthen the lives of the young people in their charge. The staff members too are struggling with this tragedy. I want them to know that we wholeheartedly support and appreciate their ongoing dedication to their work with the young residents of Long Creek.

As the commissioner of the Maine Department of Corrections, I have an open-door policy of transparency related to the development and oversight of our policies and protocols. We routinely collaborate with outside agencies and experts such as American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, Disability Rights Center of Maine and the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Maine, as well as the Federal Bureau of Prisons in the development of our policies, practices and training. As a part of standard operating procedure, we are regularly audited and reviewed by the American Correctional Association and the National Organization of Performance Based Standards. These ongoing reviews ensure we uphold the highest level of daily operations and treatment programming.

However, even with all the aforementioned oversight and safeguards, we are struggling with the tragic loss of one of our residents. So we are diligently reviewing all of our current policies and protocols, which will include an analysis by state and federal experts in the areas of suicide prevention and transgender policies and programming.

In closing, I would just like to state that this tragic loss of life has been devastating for all involved, and our hearts and prayers are with the Knowles family during their time of sorrow.