Center of attention

After years, even decades, of neglect, the Maine Youth Center at last is the center of attention. The route has been circuitous, maybe even a bit politicized, but the destination is worth it.

Police and corrections officers, judges, juvenile intake workers, lawyers, parents and inmates have long complained about the dilapidated facility and the gutting of education and rehabilitation programs. South Portland neighbors regularly complain about escapees and lax security.

After lawmakers on the Criminal Justice Committee toured the center last spring and came away aghast, Gov. King and the rest of Legislature got the message, appropriating $38 million to rebuild the state’s juvenile corrections system and tossing in a few million more in emergency funds to rebuild the depleted staff. A disgraceful situation was finally being addressed.

Enter Amnesty International, which during the summer announced it was investigating allegations of human-rights violations at the center. Then, a few weeks ago, AI said it has evidence that disciplinary measures, specifically the use of a restraint chair, frequently crossed the line.

AI’s involvement is welcome and its concerns valid. The worldwide organization is a tireless and fearless fighter for human dignity and justice and it makes no secret of its new agenda: To put the United States on notice that it is not immune from scrutiny regarding inhumane practices, whether random or institutionalized, and to focus attention upon the increasing use of the death penalty.

Fair enough. Law enforcement, from local police to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, can always benefit from outside evaluation, and a vigorous debate on capital punishment, the circumstances and the fairness with which it is meted out, is always welcome.

So the state Department of Corrections engaged the American Correctional Association to conduct a thorough assessment of the Youth Center’s discipline policies. A professional, independent review sounds good, it sounds like progress, but not to three Portland-area legislators. They — Reps. Michael Brennan, Elizabeth Townsend and Michael Quint, all Democrats — want Maine citizens in on the review. Specifically, they want the Board of Visitors.

No real problem there, but a couple of questions. The Board of Visitors is a panel of citizens appointed by the governor to oversee the Youth Center. Why do they need a special invitation to do what the public might assume they’ve been doing all along? And if these legislators want Maine citizens involved, what’s wrong with the ones in Maine’s citizen legislature? Overseeing such an important function of state government, especially one that’s been visibly crumbling for years, would seem to be part of the job. One would never suspect it’s an election year.

But, ultimately, aside from some unnecessary posturing, no real harm done if the result is a juvenile corrections system that doesn’t just warehouse troubled kids but gives them a chance. The end justifies the means, even it takes the long way ’round.