L.D. 1108 is a legislative proposal to close Long Creek Development Center for Maine’s troubled youth by 2022.

To better allocate Department of Corrections funds toward more effective forms of community-based treatment, L.D. 1108 will utilize recommendations from treatment providers for troubled youth within and outside of Maine. Because revamping the present system will likely take more than two years, by closing Long Creek completely, youths needing higher levels of care and observation will be left without treatment alternatives.

Currently, youths involved in Maine’s justice system don’t have adequate numbers of community-based residential services, or programs to house and treat them. Moreover, existing resources focus on the needs of males, and have long waiting lists.

The solution to this issue needs to be multifaceted.

• First, the existing Long Creek infrastructure and land should be transformed to provide residential programs.

• Second, to ensure that families have easy access to their children and treatment themselves, additional residential programs need to be located throughout the state.

• Third, because graduated incentives can be used to encourage self-cultivation for community reintegration, successful models of such treatment programs need to be identified and instituted.

• Fourth, for youths to better understand and reform their negative behaviors, successful initiatives along the lines of “restorative justice programs” likewise need to be explored.

Zeus Markos

Portland

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