Our View: Bill puts the end of Long Creek in sight
Developing community-based programs is the surest way to shut down Maine’s youth prison.
By The Editorial Board
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It’s time for Maine to end the unjust and counterproductive practice of incarcerating children. The question is how.
The simple answer is “close Long Creek,” the juvenile prison in South Portland, that now houses fewer than 30 young people in a facility built for hundreds.
A better answer starts with another question: Where will they go?
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A bill now before the Legislature attempts to answer that question. L.D. 546, sponsored by state Rep. Michael Brennan, D-Portland, would mandate the creation of community-based programs around the state that would be used as an alternative to incarceration. When the programs are up and running, Brennan believes that the alternate placements would reduce the head count at Long Creek Youth Development Center to zero as soon as the end of next year
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Reflections on when the world changed
For some, it was the realization that students would have to stay home. Or that trying to find hand sanitizer and toilet paper had become a scavenger hunt. Or that a substance abuse lifeline was closing its doors, even if temporarily.
Whatever the sign or the moment, the gravity of the deadly viral outbreak revealed itself in different ways, but the message was the same: The world was about to change.
Since the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Maine on March 12, 2020, there have been more than 46,000 cases and 723 lives lost. The death toll in the United States has topped 530,000.