SYSC Protesters: AG Report Repeats Pattern Of Blaming Victims

By Damien Fisher, NH Journal

With the Sununu Youth Services Center visible in the distance, fewer than a dozen people stood along River Road on Saturday, holding signs and talking to anyone who would listen about the abuse of children inside state facilities.

They all say they are survivors of that abuse or relatives of survivors. They have all been here before.

“I’m trying to do anything I can think to do,” said Michaela Jancsy.

Last week’s report from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office into recent alleged abuses inside SYSC could be a tipping point — or just another moment the general public will forget.

The unsigned report found no criminal conduct by state employees despite allegations of abuse. However, the team of investigators never interviewed the children who were allegedly abused or any of their family members. The attorney general’s report repeatedly pointed the finger of blame at the children held inside the facility, including a teenager who allegedly broke a bone in his own hand.

Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester.

Jancsy found last week’s conclusion from the Attorney General’s Office all too familiar. Children would be beaten and injured and then blamed for their injuries, she said. The staffers were never held accountable.

She showed NHJournal a copy of a 2003 disciplinary report from her time inside the system. The staffers who filed the report claimed Jancsy, who is physically slight as an adult, assaulted them during an incident and then spontaneously developed a nosebleed.

“We both grabbed an arm and started to walk her, she resisted and was lifting her leg so we had all her weight. Michaela started to get a nosebleed. We put her down to the floor,” the report states.

Jancsy told NHJournal that staffers broke her nose and that she was then punished for allegedly assaulting them.

“I had my nose broken, and the way they left this report, it was like it just started bleeding out of nowhere. And they really were able to frame me as this violent person. So they’re not only denying what they’ve done, they’re putting it on you. It really, really concerns me that the AG found nothing,” Jancsy said.

Sisters Genevieve and Shalina showed up for their brother, who spent several years inside the system beginning when he was 11. The women asked that their full names not be used because their brother is a John Doe plaintiff in one of the 1,500 lawsuits brought against the state.

Genevieve almost laughed at the attorney general’s report when she read the investigators’ conclusion that a teenager had broken a bone himself.

“That just sounds silly,” Genevieve said. “I just know from my experience with my brother, when he had broken bones and bruises, they wouldn’t allow us to visit. It sounds like a pattern to me.”

Democratic gubernatorial Candidate Cinde Warmington speaks with survivor Natasha Maunsell.

Self-described survivor Natasha Maunsell wasn’t surprised by the attorney general’s report or by the fact that investigators didn’t speak to anyone who might contradict the narrative that the children are the problem, including the children themselves, the Office of the Child Advocate or the Disability Rights Center.

“My first reaction is that, of course, they’re not going to take accountability further,” Maunsell said.

The report’s findings about administrative dysfunction inside the state agency are little more than a distraction from the actual abuse, she said.

“The more smoke show that can be created, the less truth is gonna be seen,” Maunsell said.

Lela Bee is a former youth counselor who quit in 2024 after two months on the job, saying she was forced out for reporting the abuses she witnessed.

“I can confirm that there’s still abuse of power, neglect and provoked violence happening with these children,” Bee said. “Why is YDC still up? Why are we still open?”

The anger survivors and their families feel about last week’s report extends beyond the Attorney General’s Office. Many blame Gov. Kelly Ayotte for what they see as her inaction, both as governor and during her time as attorney general.

“She’s let every victim, every survivor down. She’s done nothing to stop it,” Shalina said.

Ayotte responded to the report by promising swift action to provide body-worn cameras for SYSC staff, among other changes. She also supported the YDC Claims Administration and Settlement Fund administrator’s request for $55 million to restart settlements. The Executive Council instead approved just $20 million.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cinde Warmington attended Saturday’s protest and spoke with survivors. Warmington said Ayotte’s promises to protect children ring hollow.

“It absolutely has to stop, and we need a governor that just steps up and says, ‘Look, we can’t stand this anymore,’” Warmington said. “And it’s unbelievable to me that … as attorney general, she knew what was happening here, and to have this happening again, creating a whole new generation of victims. It’s appalling.”

Warmington’s appearance at the protest highlights the fact that the abuse scandal is a political and financial minefield for state government. New Hampshire is already committed to paying hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements to a fraction of the survivors, with the total settlement bill potentially rising far higher.

But Jancsy said no amount of money can repair the damage done to the thousands of children harmed while in state custody.

“The settlements it doesn’t get rid of nightmares. Stopping this is what matters more than anything,” she said.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.