CHARLESTON, Maine — The three youths who fell ill Tuesday while being held at Mountain View Youth Development Center had been sniffing a chemical vapor, a Maine Department of Corrections spokeswoman said Thursday.
“They inhaled a chemical utilized in one of the vocational programs,” spokeswoman Judy Plummer said Thursday, adding that the incident remains under investigation. Confidentiality rules prohibited Plummer from disclosing the youths’ ages and whether they were male or female.
She confirmed that the three were engaging in a practice known as huffing, a form of substance abuse that involves the deliberate inhalation of chemical vapors in order to get high.
Inhalant abuse can result in death from the very first use, according to the Alliance for Consumer Education.
After being seen by the on-duty nurse, the three were sent by ambulance to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday as a precaution, Plummer said. She said the youths were taken back to the state-owned correctional facility within a matter of hours.
Located on the grounds of the Charleston Correctional Facility, Mountain View can house up to 133 male and female juveniles from 11 to 21 years of age who are being detained or have been sentenced, according to the facility’s website.
winning
What some of these guys or gals won’t do to get a buzz.
I can’t feel bad about this, more kids lookin fer trouble, and found it.
And of course when you were young you never got in trouble… and probably had no friends either.
Everyone makes mistakes. some are larger than others. The biggest mistake most of the children at Charleston *and Long Creek) made was to have the wrong parents.
guess what tux, i grew up in massachusets and dont try to pull that it worked garbage, it made no difference what so ever, its simple, if a kid does good and the right thing you tell him he did good and reward him, if he knowingly did the wrong thing,, he gets punished, not told, OH, ITS OKAY, YOU,RE JUST MISUNDERSTOOD.
If 63 was the year of your birth, you were 6 when Frank Sargent closed the Reform schools. I was working for Jerry Miller at Y.S.D. at the time.
My cites on figures are from Kenny Wooden’s book “Weeping in the Playtime of Others” Jerome Miller’s book “Last One over the Wall,” and JJ&DPA’s well published study on juvenile confinment “The Better Way.”
I’m not trying to “pull” anything. I know what I saw, and what other people (educated in the field of juvenile justice) observed. The .B.I. stats for the years ’78 to ’88 show clearly a drop in the Massachusetts crime rate. in fact when compared to California (The State with the most juveniles in lock-up) Massachusets recidivism
rates are 1/16.
The great thing about all this was the savings to the Commonwealth’s taxpayers.
Don’t worry though Waylon, you got your way. The Commonwealth now locks up lots of children. Punishment is more important than saving lives and money, and the crime rate in the Commonwealth today s fairly similar to the one in New York.
way to go TUX, you tipped your hat, you were one of the PROFESSIONALS who were making a salary off of TAX PAYERS money, all your charts and stats can be voided with studies that showed just the opposite, and thank you, myself and thousands of TAXPAYERS DID GET OUR WAY
And if it was SO good, they would still be doing it. The stats mean absolutely nothing. They say a kid that commits another crime when he gets out, and goes back in is not recidivism….. What may I ask is it then? The recidivism rate in the state of Maine is crazy. at least 6 of every ten kids get in trouble again while on aftercare and sent back or sent to big boy jail. They don’t count that because they were on aftercare. Its a crazy system and the kids are way to enabled. They are taught that it is ok to do wrong, nothing will happen to them, and it never does. When they turn adult, its a different story. They are set up for failure!!
Nicely said. If you teach a kid right from wrong, which I am sure they do in juvenile places, it is a CHOICE to do wrong….no misunderstanding anywhere there!
Seems to me someone wasn’t doing their job of watching over the babies……………….
Just wondering what more could have been done? 24 hours observation? Why is it when people make the wrong choice, its always someone else’s fault. Do you know what your children are doing 24/7? How about a little accountability on the part of the teens? Yeah
novel idea.
These individuals are given more opportunities then most other children could dream of. They are exposed to a 4 to 1 student to teacher ratio. They are offered classes like Culinary Arts, Small Engine Repair, Building Trades, and Mountaineering. They are also involved with programs such as Substance Abuse Counciling, Therapy, etc… That being said, for anyone to sit at the computer and blame staff for not paying attention is foolish. The staff up there are second to none. Not only are these staff building positive relationships, but they are also teaching them manners, proper hygiene, self esteem, making the right decision, thinking before they act, etc… These young adults are exposed to off ground programs to give back to the community such as volunteering in various locations. Most of these children have never been cared about or disciplined until being incarcerated. Some kids have never even been asked how their day went. Lets not blame the staff that are actually trying to influence these kids to well, lets put it back on the parents that dont belong having responibilities such as children. Im not saying all kids that end up there have poor home lifes. Some have made poor choices such as peers or due regard for laws and consequences. Lets support the staff that are looking to change criminal thinking before it becomes a career.
You make it sound like an Utopia. Why would they ever want to leave??
Thats the problem…..they don’t want to leave…. I should say they don’t mind going back
very nicely said!
For arts and crafts today we will be using these chemicals…when is someone going to realize they’re not dealing with “everyone’s all-american” Staff at MVYDC need to take this more seriously. Don’t believe me…anyone remember about 10-12 years ago the kid was released on a weekend pass from MVYDC ? No one from DOC did their research and if I remember correctly someone died in the Glenburn/Kenduskeag area as a result of this kid not being supervised…I’m not 100% sure but it may have involved the kid stealing a car and driving drunk…
That does sound very familiar…..
Well, I was close. I thought they had drunk a bad batch of hootch.
That will be next time….along with the drugs
You really shouldn’t be too harsh on them……they are just misunderstood. Nothing will happen to them and they know that. It will happen again.
Is this even news? A couple teenagers enjoying themselves is worthy of a newspaper article?
well great, your first article BDN, seemed to place the blame on staff, and the facilities there… this is about the 15th time I’ve become enraged at your ir-responsible reporting.. makes me wonder about all of your other articles, what truths, and lies are hidden in them…. disgusting…… Whatever happened to fair, and impartial reporting? much of yours tends to be speculation, and the search for the fantastic, whether it’s true or not.
The BDN had better revise its terms of use policy or get to work and actually moderate the comments it removes.
Curently if a position is unpopular, and is flagged by two individuals (or one individual from two seperate I.P addresses) it is removed.
My comment below (removed) said simply (from memory) that everyone has done something bad in their lives, and that State children get a closer look than children who live at home.
Ha. BDN deletes my comment on the other story when I said it was drug related. Only to find out, IT WAS DRUG RELATED…….
Some of us dont just pull this stuff out of our behinds you know.
Just some kids having some fun.