Solitary Confinement Harming Convicted YDC Abuser, Lawyer Says

By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH

The lawyer for convicted YDC sexual abuser James Woodlock says his client is suffering a physical and mental breakdown due to months of solitary confinement.

Woodlock, 62, is one of the few Sununu Youth Development Center, formerly called YDC, abusers to be criminally convicted. He is currently serving 20 to 40 years in prison on convictions for acting as an accomplice in the rape of a YDC teen resident. He’s also facing a new, pending trial on another count of YDC sexual abuse.

But this week, Woodlock’s lawyer Richard Guerriero, filed a motion in Hillsborough Superior Court — North in Manchester asking for a competency determination citing concerns about Woodlock’s condition.

Woodlock has lost at least 25 pounds since he started serving his sentence, according to Guerriero, and appears gaunt and frail. He shows signs of obvious depression, has trouble with his memory, and told Guerriero he experiences panic attacks, crying fits, and sleeplessness, the motion states.

The cause of Woodlock’s decline, according to Guerriero, is the solitary confinement Woodlock has been subject to since he entered the prison.

“Mr. Woodlock has been in solitary confinement at the prison since his arrival. He is in the Special Housing Unit (SHU). Mr. Woodlock reports that he is locked alone in a cell twenty-three hours a day. He is let out of his cell for one hour a day during which he is allowed to go into a somewhat larger day room that has a shower. He is still alone when he is in the day room. He reports that he spends nearly the entirety of every day without contact with any other human being,” Guerriero wrote.

David Meehan, the YDC survivor who testified against Woodlock, said in a statement he does not want to see anyone suffer inside solitary confinement. Meehan himself was subject to months of solitary at a time while he was being held in YDC.

“Part of me — the 16-year-old boy who still wakes up screaming — wants to look at the man who locked me in solitary for weeks and months and say: ‘How’s it feel, Woody?’” Meehan said. “Another part of me — the man I’ve fought like hell to become — feels sick at the thought of anyone, even him, living in the same cage. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”

Department of Corrections staff told Guerriero that Woodlock’s extreme confinement is being done for his own safety, but the lawyer said that is not a valid excuse.

“Locking someone in solitary confinement, not because of any misconduct, but supposedly for their protection, is nothing short of cruel. The court’s sentence and the notoriety of Mr. Woodlock’s alleged crimes do not justify such treatment.

Guerriero wants a competency evaluation done on Woodlock to determine if he is capable of going to trial on the pending charge. He also wants the court to order DOC to change Woodlock’s confinement and get him out of solitary.

This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.